


Trophy Wife

by nordicdreamsndutchthings



Category: Benedict Cumberbatch-Fandom, British Actor RPF
Genre: Angst, Attempt at Humor, Complicated Relationships, Drama, Extramarital Affairs, F/M, Press and Tabloids, Romance, Showmance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2018-06-01 00:43:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 29,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6494128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nordicdreamsndutchthings/pseuds/nordicdreamsndutchthings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Fae wanted was to be left alone, away from the limelight, spotlight... whatever lights that people preferred these days. Unfortunately for her, Benedict was always in all of those lights.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Encounter

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Showmance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3842659) by [GranolaSuite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GranolaSuite/pseuds/GranolaSuite). 



Between work, research, the book (which was basically also just related to work anyway) and her general preference for solitude when it came to things that were not generally work-related, Faith Chambers never really found the time (or patience) to socialize.

 

Granted, her sisters and the few friends she had acquired over the course of her twenty nine years of existence all knew this. They even knew that she was not particularly good at socializing anyway _. She was stuck,_ she’d often retort drunkenly (because yes, that’s another thing Fae was. An alcoholic. An antisocial alcoholic but that was a good  thing compared to the things she’d done in her uni days- and that, in itself, was a story for another day) when said people would complain about her lack of social life _, in the awkward teen phase._

 

And they’d all agree.

 

It was that simple.

 

Besides, Fae hardly met anyone who mesmerized her enough to be friends with them.

 

Because that’s how she saw people.

 

She evaluated a person’s intellect and then looked at their behavior, mannerisms etc. Faith liked to consider herself above the primitive approval bounty people used. The bounty being ‘looks’. She never saw that in anyone. She never felt attracted to anyone. Of course, she’d had had a few sexual relationships in the past but she had been merely curious and honestly did not understand why anyone would prefer the sourness that came after a momentary period of satisfaction.

 

To put it mildly, Faith considered herself to be asexual.

 

To the immense amusement and horror of her friends and family members.

 

“But you’re not!” her childhood friend, Cassie Arnold-Jameson told her as they walked into the high end pub in one Friday night.

 

Fae frowned. “I think I’d be able to determine that, thank you ve-”

 

She was interrupted by her sister in law and friend from university, Allison Bolton- Chambers.

 

“Oh shut up with the _robotone_ , we’re gonna have fun tonight!”

 

“Definitely!” chimed in her other friend from grade school, Kim McCarthy. “We’re going to get some booze, grab a guy and have a great time!”

 

“Mmm-hmmm,” agreed her younger sister, Pamela.

 

Faith looked at her bug eyed. “You’re getting married, Pam, _for fuck’s sake.”_

 

“I know,” the younger one agreed completely, “which is why tonight is my last night as a free walker.”

 

“A what?” Fae made a face turning to Sara Powell, the only one in the group who she could truly consider her friend. The rest were Destiny's (yes, her parents named them Destiny and Faith) friends.

 

 Destiny, her twin, who had already made her way to the bartender, ordering drinks for them.

 

Fae grimaced internally. Some people _never_ changed.

 

_Did she not know that Fae had a high tolerance for everything in this damned place?_

 

It was a recipe for disaster- though, looking around, she realized that no one would mind.

 

Sara shrugged. “I don’t think that’s a popular, slang word,” the sociologist told her, “she probably came up with it right now.”

 

“Ah,” Fae replied. “I believe there’s hope for me then?”

 

“Maybe Chambers,” she grinned, “maybe.”

 

Faith found herself smiling with her.

 

She could always relate to and expect Sara to understand her. None of her other ‘friends’ did. They thought she was detached or chose to be and honestly, she was okay with it most of the times. The only time she was not okay with it was in such social situations.

 

For a bunch of married, engaged or ‘unavailable’- as the term went- women, they had ridiculously low moral values.

 

And Faith considered herself above them. Particularly when they were out for the night. She really did not know why she was being dragged into this. It was her younger sister’s bachelorette party. Tomorrow was her wedding.

 

Fae distinctly remembered booking a flight for tomorrow morning but somehow had agreed to this weird, ancient custom when her invitation arrived at 2am last night.

 

She briefly wondered if it was a good idea.

 

Another smile from Sara made her rethink her stance.

 

“Come on, it can’t be that bad,” her friend said to her.

 

Fae smiled at her, weakly. “This is not my element,” she replied, “I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do so god help me.”

 

“It’s called hanging out,” she told her, “You did it just fine as a teenager. What’s gotten into you?”

 

“It’s called working alone with minimum interaction with the outside world,” she answered.

 

“You interact with your students and colleagues. You don’t seem to have a problem there,” she pointed out.

 

“My students and colleagues and I have something in common,” she said through gritted teeth. It annoyed her greatly when someone compared her feelings related to work with her social anxiety. It was _not_ the same thing.

 

“ _So?_ We’ll find a guy who has something in common with you,” Sara smirked before walking off to sit at the booth the rest of them had gone to ages ago.

 

Fae narrowed her eyes knowing all too well what Sara was going for.

 

_How dare she try to set her, Faith Angelika Chambers, up with some unknown freak of nature!?_

 

_It was preposterous!_

 

 And she was not going to let her win.

 

She began to walk towards the group, with full determination to let them know- hell, who was she kidding? Let _Sara_ know- what she thought of betray-

 

_“Woah there!”_

 

Fae crashed into something and fell wrist first onto the hard floor.

 

“Oh dear, you okay?”

 

Fae didn’t know what hit her. Well, she knew that _someone_ hit her- well, bumped into her and that it was a man given the depth of his voice and hard built but really- _how fucking uncouth!_ She was watching where she was going. She was watching right ahead of herself, with a few angles at the left and right- just enough to notice if anyone was coming her way.

 

This man, this annoying man, however, did not. _How fucking uncivilized was the male species?_ No wonder she didn’t like any of them. She was so done with this evening and it hadn’t even started.

 

She had known that she ought to stay home and work on the fourth chapter of her book. That would have been so much better than-

 

A hand came in her line of vision and Fae looked up to see a man- a strangely familiar looking man- with a mob of disheveled curly hair looking down at her. By the looks of it he was offering her his hand to help her up. And then she realized.

 

It’s the fucker who bumped into me!

She sent him a scowl, making it a point to get up on her own. She ignored his hand and placed both her hands on the floor besides her, ready to stand up quickly in one swift movement…

 

….when she felt a sudden needle like sensation run through her right hand and her ascend to standing became slow and awkward.

 

Fae grabbed her right wrist in agony. To his credit, the man looked at her concerned.

 

“Are you alright?” he asked her and she realized that this was the second time he’d directed this question towards her.

 

And this was the one who hurt her in the first place!

_“Of course, I’m not you dolt!”_ she hissed. _“You’ve helped me sprint my wrist!”_

 

If anything, he looked even more confused. “Helped?”

 

“I’m being sarcastic you dim wit!” she told him. “I swear to god, what is wrong with you?”

 

“Me?” That got him to stop a moment before he spoke again, “Pardon me but that was a mistake. I was going to apologize for it.”

 

“Well, you didn’t,” she stated as a matter of factly and he looked at her closely for minute before saying, “Uhh, sorry?”

 

She glared at him, beyond outraged. How dare he!

 

She said nothing after that, turned around and walked the other way, her nose held high until…

 

…until she realized that she was going the wrong way.

 

“Oh fuck it,” she muttered to herself, not wanting to let her pride down- besides, she could practically feel his eyes burning into her back as she walked out of the pub.

 

She reckoned she’d have a quick smoke before coming back in.

 

 


	2. Conversaton

It took her half an hour and three cancer sticks to summon the nerves to go back in there. And even after that she still couldn’t bring herself to go inside. Which was strange because she was awkward, not shy. Eventually, Destiny came out to drag her in.

 

“It’s a fucking party you _freak_ ,” she told her in typical mean girl (which she liked to think she was, or so Fae thought given her sister’s tone) tone, “Enjoy it! Besides, a couple of George’s friends are here. Don’t you wanna meet them?”

 

“George is friends with aristocratic assholes who’ve never worked for a dime in their whole life,” she retorted.

 

Destiny narrowed her eyes and Fae briefly wondered if that’s how she looked when she did that. Of course, she’d have to have luscious golden locks for that and all she had was a jet black pixie…

 

_“We’re_ a bunch of aristocratic assholes who’ve never worked for a dime in their whole life,” she stated and Fae shrugged.

 

_…but eh, a girl could imagine._

 

_“You are_ ,” she imitated her to perfection, “I’m not. I have a job.”

 

Besides, she liked getting under Desi’s nerves.

 

She didn’t know why though and Fae liked to know how things worked. Once upon a time, she and Desi were really good friends. That was back in kindergarden or grade school- Fae could not recall (like most of her childhood). Apparently they did everything together, even dressed up the same and stuff like that, all until their thirteenth birthday.

 

Fae didn’t really remember (again. Like most of her childhood she did not remember this piece of information either.) what happened but somewhere along the way, she and Desi stopped being friends. Something happened between them… _or to them_ , for all she knew.

 

Desi and Fae became the exact opposite of one another. Even though she didn’t really hate Desi anymore, Fae did know that at one point in her life, she despised Desi so much that she dyed her hair a different color just so she would not resemble her anymore.

 

Their relationship had gotten better though now. But there was still a little friction (who was _she kidding?_ A _hell_ lot of friction) between them and now they had this strange, I’m-mean-to-you-so-you-be-mean-to-me kind of a relationship.

 

“Fae, shut the fuck up and come back in,” Destiny said to her, bringing her back to the real world and out of her thought process.

 

Fae shook her head. “Nuh-uh, you can’t make me.”

 

Desi glared at her. “Jesus Christ, they’re just people!”

 

“I know. I don’t like people.”

 

“What is your problem? Come in,” she said through gritted teeth and then as though an afterthought, smiled smugly, “besides, Sara’s hitting it off quite well with this one guy. I thought you’d be interested…”

 

Fae raised a brow. Sara was hitting on someone?

 

Now, she might be detached but _Sara?_ How could _Sara_ hit on a guy? She wasn’t like them- her morals were in place. _Besides, she had a boyfriend!_

And Fae liked Eddie. She was not going to let some pub-going womanizer ruin her friend’s one chance at happiness.

 

She absolutely forbade it.

 

“Fine, you win,” she said to Desi indifferently. Her twin smiled in triumph and headed inside, Fae right behind her with newfound purpose.

 

And true to her words, there she was. Sara, talking to-

_Him?_

 

She stopped _. She was hitting on the insufferable man who destroyed her evening? How dare she!_

 

Fae was seething.

 

_What was wrong with humanity?_

 

She was distinctly aware of her twin smiling that Cruella smile of hers but said nothing, instead opting to sit next to Sara.

 

Or she would have sat next to her if Sara had not immediately stood up at that very moment.

 

“Hey, Fae, I was looking for you,” she said innocently as though she was completely unaware of the heinous crime she’d committed. “Where’d you go?”

 

“I went out for a smoke,” she muttered with suddenly what was left of her voice. Sara sat on the other chair, and motioned for her to sit on… _the one vacant chair next to him_.

 

Fae had no choice but to comply.

 

“Ben, this is Fae,” Sara introduced her, flashing a friendly (not flirtatious, Fae observed) and then, “Fae, this is Ben.”

 

“We’ve already met,” this _‘Ben’_ character told her as though it was no big deal, “I’m ridiculously clumsy and bumped into her earlier.”

 

“Really? Well, what’d you know,” Sara smiled, “I was just telling Ben about the book you’re working on. He’s really interested in the particle accelerator you guys have at CERN….”

 

Fae narrowed her eyes. Why were they talking about her? That didn’t make any sense. What was she playing at?

 

“Yeah,” Ben agreed, “it sounds so fascinating and strange. I’ve never been good at science- or really interested in it,” he told her honestly, “I’m more of a theatre lover, I’m an actor. But when I heard about the Higgs Boson- that really caught my attention.”

 

Even if she’d decided earlier on that she didn’t like the man, she’d be a fool to not speak to him. Not when he showed genuine interest- and even admitted that he didn’t know much about the subject- in the one thing in the world that she was most passionate about.

 

So she let on a smile and informed him proudly that she’d helped build one of the accelerators at CERN and had, at one point, monitored the Large Hadron Collider- the accelerator where the Higgs bosons were observed for the first time.

 

“So you’re a scientist?” he asked her.

 

“A particle physicist,” she replied.

 

“Wow… that sounds brilliant,” he told her and she grinned. “So much more interesting than an actor.”

 

Fae shook her head. “It _sounds_ more interesting than it actually is. All I do all day is grade a bunch of post grad essays and lecture occasionally. I’m hardly ever doing anything interesting.”

 

“But you get to do all this research that helps us answer the mysteries the universe. You help us understand how things work. That’s a really important job,” he argued.

 

“You’re making it sound like it’s rocket science.” She stopped for a moment. “Actually, rocket science is simple,” she said more to herself than anyone else which made him grin.

 

“It’s a tricky concept but there are levels to it and it’s really straightforward. Lucky for us, everything’s theoretical. We could say anything we want as long as we have circumstantial evidence to support us.”

 

His grin widened and he asked her, “What made you go into particle physics?”

 

Fae grinned in response. Behind her, she could hear Sara groan.

 

“Damn it Benedict, do you have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into!”


	3. Wedding Bells

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder. This is fiction. And I'm not taking side of any party. No hate please.

 

“Did he give you his number?” Sara asked her the next day. They were in the ladies’ room, touching up on their make up.

 

Well, Sara was anyway.

 

Fae was not allowed to ‘touch up’ anything as per strict orders from her mother’s beautician who thought she had crap taste- she couldn’t blame him either. She really had crap taste when it came to feminine things.

 

She just stared at herself wondering if she really had high cheekbones or was it the contour or whatever it was that Stan did.

 

“Huh?” she turned to Sara, having (obviously) not heard the question.

 

“His number. Your number. Did you exchange it?”

 

“Oh that,” she turned her attention back to the mirror, “yeah, I did. We exchanged numbers.”

 

Sara let out an excited, shrill _, “Oh my god!”_

 

“What? Why?”

 

“You didn’t realize did you?” she asked, grinning.

 

“Realized what?” She hated it when people spoke in hints and riddles. She never got those annotations.

 

“Nothing,” Sara smirked, turning back to the mirror and applying red lipstick one final time. “I’ll leave it to you to find out on your own.” She winked at her and walked out.

 

A moment later, two women- one in a business suit and the other in a puffy cream dress that must look nice according to the fashion standards of the era’s society (but just looked like one of Cinderella’s rejects to Fae).

 

The one in the business suit was lecturing the puffy dress one. “Okay, now remember, Sophie, stay with him at all times. You’re supposed to be his dotting wife all the time. Nothing but that. _And for god’s sake,_ smile like you mean it!”

 

Fae frowned. Maybe she was a little too harsh on her judgment of the puffy dress woman. The poor thing looked miserable as she began to speak.

 

Fae took it as her queue to leave.

 

Outside, the reception hall was filling up with more and more people now. While her sister and brother in law had kept a simple ceremony, they’d gone overboard with the reception. She even spotted a bit of paparazzi near the entrance and realized that the woman in the business suit was probably Puffy Dress’s publicist or something. By the looks of it, Puffy Dress seemed to be in a PR relationship with someone.

 

Fae shook her head.

 

This is why she didn’t like socializing so much. Puffy Dress was probably a socialite married to the numerous athletes, actors and general members of the aristocracy that were present at the ceremony. She scrunched her nose in distaste. She hated all things glamorous. Specially if it was all a fake.

 

She spotted her twin and Allison at the entrance taking pictures with the many guests. The photographers were going crazy because… _holy shit, was that Dame Judy Dench?_

 

She didn’t know that anyone she was related to knew her. But then again, Fae didn’t even live near her family and not- work related social circle that she was made to roam around in so yeah, maybe that was the reason behind her ignorance.

 

Her family and everyone she’d grown up with lived in London. She lived in Sheffield, worked as a professor at the University of Sheffield. Her life was the exact opposite of what everyone she knew was used to. She highly doubted her family would appreciate her nice, little, cosy apartment or the fact that she didn’t own a car because it was pointless- and honestly, why drive around when one could simply walk? Everything she was concerned with was at a walking distance from where she lived: the Physics building, the Library, the gym (because she loved swimming), the ballet club she was part of, the grocer’s and even the Peak District where she and her colleagues would sometimes go for a hike on the weekends.

 

Her life in Sheffield greatly contrasted from the one back in London. No one but Sara even knew of the kind of life she lived. And she was satisfied with it. She did not see how anyone could be satisfied with the superficial life they lived. After all, what good would such fame do? Could it end world hunger? What about poverty?

 

No, it couldn’t and it made her wonder if this was the primary reason why she and Desi didn’t get along. Desi loved the limelight. She loved the fact that some (albeit trashy) tabloid would have a picture of her in her latest Dolce & Gabana and often shared said pictures on their family WhatsApp group which Fae kept muted more often than not.

 

“You look lost,” Ben’s voice interrupted her thought process. Fae turned to her right to see him in a stunning black suit. She hadn’t known that he would be attending the reception. Then again, he was George’s friend. George would obviously invite all his friends to his little sister’s wedding.

 

“I’m not,” she said unconvincingly. It was hard to look happy. Specially since she was uncomfortable in her current surrounding. It hit Fae like a tonne of rocks when she realized that any misconduct on her part could well be on the front page tomorrow. She could already see it _: Black Sheep Chambers Ruins Sister’s Wedding Day_

 

It was ironic on so many levels. Especially considering the fact that she was the only Chambers who had black hair to begin with.

 

“You can tell me,” he said and Fae spotted a woman in a business suit not that different from Puffy Dress’s publicist’s garb standing near him.

 

“I hate this,” she told him honestly, “I don’t get the point. I thought marriage was something intimate that you’d share with your closest friends and family members. Not prance around, showing off your newest dress to the media.”

 

Ben had a strange look on his face as he spoke, “So you don’t like the spotlight?”

 

“I’m not a big fan of it,” she told him, “It seems so superficial to me. But I’ve always been the backstage kind of girl. Even in school, I’d be in the backstage crew for all the plays we’d have. Usually the technician which in itself was a big deal because some sexist assholes thought it was strange for a girl to do a _man’s_ job.”

 

Ben smiled. “And I bet Desi was in the leading role?”

 

She returned the smile, appreciating the fact that he’d picked up the friction between them so quickly. Not many people could do that. Even Cassie hadn’t realized that and she’d known her for more than twenty years. “Yup, always the stage girl. It’s no surprise to me that she went into theatre.”

 

“Really? I thought she just _fell into it,”_ he said, quoting her very lines from an interview that he had with her for Hamlet.

 

“Pfft, see that’s what I’m talking about,” Fae told him, “That’s sugar coated truth. Desi knew what she wanted to do since A Levels. She didn’t fall into anything. She went to Oxford specifically because she wanted to study Drama. Now the fact that she ended up studying Literature instead was a surprise to me.”

 

Ben chuckled and now Fae was sure that she’d heard that distinct laugh somewhere before as well. She couldn’t put a finger on it and didn’t want to ask because it would seem awkward. She really liked him- more so than anyone in years. He was an actor, he’d told her so. Maybe she’d seen one of his works on one of the few rare occasions she had the time to watch crap telly.

 

“You have a different view on these things,” he told her, “I would’ve never guessed that you’re George’s sister if I hadn’t met you last night.”

 

Fae smiled. “I would’ve never talked to you if you hadn’t met me last night,” she revealed.

 

A frown marred his forehead as he asked, “Really? Why?”

 

“I have social anxiety and border on sociopathic behavior,” she admitted. “That’s partly the reason everyone’s cool with me living away. I’m the black sheep of the family.”

 

She normally didn’t tell people this. Hell, even most of her colleagues didn’t know and often mused that she was simply “awkward”. She did not know why she was even telling him this. For some reason, she felt as though she could trust him.

 

Which in itself was strange because she never trusted anyone because of how often they’d end up betraying her.

 

And at that very moment, Puffy Dress and the business suit lady came up behind him. Puffy Dress slipped her arm around his waist and Ben smiled uncomfortably.

 

“Who’s this?” she asked him. Ben coughed and Fae decided that she wasn’t too harsh on her judging. Puffy Dress had a really annoying smile.

 

“Sophie, this is Fae- George’s sister,” he told her.

 

“The other twin?”

 

It occurred to Fae that he was Puffy Dress’s husband.

 

“Yes,” he answered. Then turning to her, he said, “Fae, this is Sophie… my wife.”

 

So _he_ was her PR husband.

 

And up until now they’d been shamelessly flirting.

 

 _This_ , she thought, _is exactly why I don’t do relationships._


	4. Aftermath

 

“Sara,” Benedict asked her during dinner, “Have you seen Fae?”

 

Sara frowned. “What do you mean?”

 

“I'm looking for Fae,” he told her, “I can't find her.”

 

“Really?” she asked him, standing up from the table she was sitting at with Kim and Allison. Turning to them, she asked, “Have you guys seen her?”

 

Both shrugged. “I think I saw her near the entrance a while ago,” Allison said, as she dug into her desert, “But it could’ve been someone else. I wasn’t paying attention.”

 

Sara looked heavenwards before focusing on Ben once more.

 

“I’ll help you look for her,” she said. They walked away from the hall that hosted dinner into the main reception area.

 

“I’ll look in the restroom,” she told him, and he nodded.

 

“I’ll check the entrance,” he said.

 

Sara smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

 

There was no one in the restroom. Sara looked around and even waited for fifteen minutes in case she did come inside. She never did. In the end, she gave up and went outside.

 

Benedict was waiting for her.

 

“Did you find her?” he asked.

 

“No luck,” she said. And then, “Why’re you looking for her anyway?”

 

He looked uncomfortable. “I’d rather not say.”

 

“Are you sure? I’m her best friend,” she informed him, “if there’s anything you’re gonna tell her; it’ll eventually come to me so spit it out.”

 

He looked away before sighing. “I couldn’t get the chance to explain myself.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“She met Sophie in… let’s just less than favourable conditions.”

 

“Sophie?” Sara questioned. “Isn’t she supposed to be in New York right now?”

 

“She isn’t,” he informed her, “she’s here. And….married to me.”

 

“WHAT?” Sara’s eyes widened in shock. “When did that happen?”

 

“This February,” he told her, “I thought everyone knew.”

 

“I didn’t,” she told him, “I was in Sheffield- isolated from society with- Oh my god! I’m such an idiot! No, you’re an idiot!” she declared, pointing a finger at him. “You didn’t tell her you were married!”

 

“I-”

 

“Don’t say anything,” she interrupted him, “Let me piece this out. You guys were flirting. I tried to set you guys up. How come you don’t feel guilty about cheating on your wife?”

 

He looked guilty, letting the silence tell her what had happened.

 

She smirked cynically, “Of course. I thought you were better than this Benedict. How come you of all the people fell for it?”

 

“I have my reasons,” he told her, “I need to tell Fae. I need to explain it to her.”

 

“She’s not going to listen,” she said, “she’s probably left now that I think about it. Dude,  you fucked up horribly you know that? Jeez.”

 

“She’ll listen, if I can only talk to her,” he argued.

 

“She won’t,” Sara told him firmly, “because she’ll never listen to you. She’s not like us, Benedict. She doesn’t understand nor would she bother understanding the workings of these things. This sucks man. I thought you guys were good together. Damn. How’s Sophie taking this?”

 

“She’s coping,” he said.

 

“You know, you should be nice to her,” Sara informed him, “It might not be easy or her either.”

 

“I know.”

 

“You’re an ass hole.”

 

“I know that too.”

 

“I’ll try to get a hold of Fae,” she told him, “But honestly, forget about her. You’re never going to see her again. I dunno what you were thinking. Do you know how risky maintaining an actual relationship on top of whatever you’ve got going is?”

 

“It worked out just fine with you and Brett,” he pointed out.

 

Sara glared at him. “Don’t you dare compare your situation with mine and Brett’s. I met Brett at the end of his contract.”

 

“Close enough.”

 

“As if it’s the end of your contract, doofus.”

 

He sighed.

 

“So why didn’t you tell her?”

 

“I didn’t get a chance.”

 

“She’s not going to listen.”

 

“You told me that.”

 

“Just putting that in your head before rejection comes your way,” she said. “Now come on, you haven’t introduced me to Sophie yet.”

 

“You want to meet her?” he looked surprised.

 

Sara glared at him. “She needs someone who can relate to her and I highly doubt her publicist is that.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Dr Chambers, it’s so great to see you. You’re back early,” Shelby Andrews exclaimed, “And no offence. What’s up with the… _assemble?”_

 

Fae looked down at her ‘assemble’. She was wearing normal clothes- work clothes and _… bunny slippers._

 

She frowned. _She’d forgotten to change her shoes!_

 

“I swear I was going to change out of them,” she told her assistant. “I don’t quite remember why I haven’t.”

 

Shelby giggled. “Is something bothering you? Oh, did you get a new idea?” She walked towards her desk and opened the drawer. “Because you’re always like this when you have new ideas.”

 

“I am?”

 

“You are.”

 

“Oh dear, well, I don’t. Have a new idea,” she told her, “it’s sort of personal.”

 

Shelby handed her a pair of shoes.

 

Fae frowned at her.

 

“You forgot them one day and I forgot to give them to you,” she informed her dutifully.

 

“I went home barefoot?”

 

“Must’ve,” her assistant responded. “Now, tell me. What’s up? How was the wedding? Do I get to see pictures of you in the papers?”

 

Fae smiled. “No, you don’t. Hopefully.”

 

“Aww. That sucks. Are you sure no one took photos of you?”

 

“I don’t think so.”

 

“I was gonna tell all my friends!”

 

Fae raised an eyebrow as she put on her shoes and gave the bunny slippers to Shelby.

 

“What for?”

 

“The time I come to work bare feet because you’re going to see that in the near future,” she stated.

 

“How are you so sure?”

 

Fae turned around towards her own office. “Because I’ll be doing a hell lot of work in here. I just might lose my mind.”

 

And with that she shut her office door and got down to work.

 

It didn’t work.

 

Two hours into mind mapping chapter four, her mind had drifted off to Ben.

 

He hadn’t told her that he was married. Did it mean that he wasn’t really married and that the whole thing was an elaborate façade?

 

She had not pegged him to be the sort.

 

Honestly, her sister was the sort.

 

And she’d ended up having a genuine relationship.

 

She wondered what else he was hiding.

 

 _Oh, why did I have to be so stupid,_ she thought resting her head between her hands _, I can’t focus on work. Maybe I should’ve let him explain…_

_But what can he explain?_

 

_That he’s in a PR relationship?_

_And what did he expect me to do?_

_Why did he give me his number?_

_Speaking of number-_

Fae fished into her bag for her phone. Sure enough, there were seventeen missed calls. Eight from Ben.  One from her mother. And eight from… _Sara._

_Oh crap, she knows._

 

Fae decided to give her a call.

 

 _“Oh my god Fae, I’m so sorry!”_ she said immediately when she picked up.

 

Fae frowned. “Sorry? Why are you sorry?”

 

_“I tried setting you guys up! Of course I’m sorry!”_

 

“You _what?”_ Then, “Well, next time when you try setting someone up, research on the guy or girl. In case they’re married.”

 

_“I know. I’m an idiot.”_

 

“We both agree on that.”

 

_“Listen, give him a call.”_

 

“Why? I owe him nothing.”

 

_“He wants to expla-“_

 

“There’s nothing to explain. My life isn’t a Hollywood movie. That’s yours and everyone in London’s. Keep me out of it.”

 

_“But he-”_

 

“I don’t care okay? Just let me… listen, stay away from me for a while okay?”

 

_“But-”_

 

“Look, I don’t know what was going between me and Ben but maybe that’s what it was. Nothing. You know, _normal_ people who flirt all the time. They don’t end up together. They move on.”

 

_“So you do like him!”_

 

“You’re missing the point Sara. Goodbye.”

 

_“Wa-”_

                                                                                                                        

Fae hung up. She got back to the papers that lay in front of her to grade and sighed. “Fuck it, I need coffee,” she muttered and stood up.

 

She opened her office door to find Shelby camped out in front of her door.

 

“What’re you doing here?” she asked her.

 

 “Who’s Ben?” she countered.

 

“Nobody!”

 

“Well, he is somebody,” she mused.

 

Fae ignored her and went to the coffee machine. Shelby followed her.

 

“Oh come on Doctor,” she insisted, “tell me.”

 

Fae sighed and made coffee. She turned to her right to see Shelby still standing next to her. “What?” she asked her.

 

“Please,” she begged.

 

Fae sighed. “Okay fine. I met Ben…” Her voice trailed off when she saw a picture at Shelby’s desk.

 

_A picture of Ben._

 

Fae walked towards it.

 

“How’d you…?” she asked her.

 

“OH!” Shelby beamed. “That’s Benedict Cumberbatch! You like him?”

 

“This is Ben,” she stated looking at the picture.

 

Shelby did a double take. _“WHAT?”_


	5. Cumberbatch in Hicks Building

“Karon, I need to be somewhere this week,” he told his publicist as he boarded a plane. “I’ll be back in a few days.”

 

Karon, to her credit, was beyond surprised. “Where you going?” she asked him. “And why didn’t you tell me before?”

 

“It’s personal,” he said before hanging up and promptly switching it off. He had managed to pesture Sara enough to find out where Fae worked, where she lived and the other necessary details. He’d also gathered enough information to know exactly where she’d be when his flight landed and how to approach her.

 

He was also aware of the massive risk of his plan but was going to go with it anyway because… well, he couldn’t forget her.

 

And he was not going to let her go because of his own stupidity. He needed to explain himself to her.

 

He just had to.

 

The flight to Sheffield was three hours long and surprisingly, no one recognized him. He went through customs without any hassle either and soon managed to get a cab.

 

“Where to?” asked the cabbie.

 

“Hicks Building.”

 

* * *

 

 

Fae regretted the day she told Shelby who ‘Ben’ was. For after that unfortunate day she made it a point to tell her everything she could find about Ben. Including the fact that some of his fans were suspicious about his marriage.

 

“And I have proof that we’re all right!” Shelby exclaimed at the end of the lecture.

 

Fae, for her part, was amazed.

 

“I see now,” she muttered, visibly shaken.

 

“Yes, they’re miserable together!” she told her. “You and Ben- you guys are perfect. I can say, on behalf of the entire fandom, that you’re adorable together!”

 

Fae shuddered. “So that’s why none of you study,” she mused aloud causing Shelby to frown.

 

_“What?”_

 

“You guys are busy stalking celebrities! No wonder your grades are so low!” she said. “University should ban fandoms. That's the best way to progress.”

 

 _“WHAT?”_ Shelby was horrified. “I tell you everything I have on your boyfriend’s fake marriage and you’re concerned about _grades?”_

 

Fae looked heavenwards. “He’s not my boyfriend. I’m taking a break from relationships.”

 

“You’ve always been on a break from relationships. Benedict’s your first in a million years,” her assistant stated as a matter of factly.

 

Fae scowled. “That’s not true. I choose not to be in a relationship because I’m too busy.”

 

“Yeah, and the rumors about you and Professor Horowitz are _completely_ true,” she said sarcastically.

 

Fae’s eyes widened. “How did you find that out?”

 

“Wait _, that’s true?!”_ she asked her with surprise. “I thought Pierre was joking! _Shit!_ You have a boyfriend. No wonder this Benedict business is so bad for you! Talk about scandal, _doctor_.”

 

Fae rolled her eyes. “He’s not my boyfriend. Steven and I have a-”

 

“Oh my god, you’re sleeping with a _geologist_ ,” Shelby said it as though it was an insult. “What do you guys even have in common anyways?”

 

“It’s called no strings attached. And there’s nothing wrong with Steve- _why am I even talking to you about this?_ ” she asked no one in particular.

 

Shelby grinned. “Because I’m the only one you see on daily basis and I make sure that you remain alive.”

 

“Fair enough,” Fae said clearing her throat, “now, go give these papers to Arnold. I’ve graded them.” She handed her a thick envelope and Shelby sighed.

 

She hated it when Fae would draw the line, defining their relationship and its boundary.

 

“Fine, you’re the boss,” she sulked and left.

 

Fae waited for her to be gone, made sure that she was gone, logged onto her computer and went on to the very Tumblr blog that was covering the PR relationship story.

 

Meanwhile Shelby was on her phone the moment she left her office.

 

“You were right you absolute piece of shit,” Shelby told her friend, “But I don’t owe you that drink because they’re friends with benefits.”

 

Pierre- who has Professor Horowitz's asistant- scowled. _“No way. I thought- well, it’s still a relationship.”_

 

“It’s not a relationship,” she stated,  “Not doc and uggh… _How the hell does she even like him? He’s **old**!”_

 

 _“He’s hot Shel,”_ he told her dutifully, _“Clearly, Chambers’ has a better taste in men than her sister.”_

 

“Oh my god! Are you still upset about Desi Chambers’ divorce? We’ve got better things to do!” Shelby exclaimed.

_“Pardon me but she left The Matt Smith for some random director,”_ he argued, “ _who in their right mind does that?”_

 

“Everyone in the showbiz does that you dunce,” she told him, “Anyway. Guess what? You know doc went to her younger sister’s wedding in London, right? Yeah, so-”

 

She spotted a familiar mob of tamed, curly hair and stopped, frozen. “ _OH MY GOD! He’s here!”_ she squealed into her phone before hanging up.

 

“Okay, calm down Shelby. You can do this,” she told herself as she took a deep breath and walked up to Benedict Cumberbatch. Who was looking rather lost and uncertain as he assessed his surroundings.

 

“Are you looking for Dr Chambers?” she asked him.

 

He frowned slightly. “Faith Chambers?”

 

“Yeah, Doctor Chambers. I’m her assistant, Shelby Andrews,” she stated, “she’s told me all about you.”

 

“She has?” he looked surprised.

 

“Yup. I could take you to her,” she said. “After I’m done giving her these, that is.” She showed him the envelope she was carrying and he nodded.

 

“Okay.”

 

“Follow me,” she smiled politely before turning around- partly to lead the way, and partly because she could not keep herself from grinning like a maniac.

 

Benedict Cumberbatch was _AT HER UNIVERSITY BUILDING_.

 

She quickly handed Arnold, the TA who taught the undergraduates every now and then, the papers and even though she usually spent quite a while chatting with him, she only greeted him and quickly assured him to Fae’s office.

 

She could not keep the grin off her face this time.

 

“She’s in there,” she told him, pointing at the door.

 

Benedict thanked her before walking through the door and (thankfully) closing it behind him.

 

Shelby settled at her post, camping outside of the door to hear every bit of the action.

 

* * *

 

 

 

By the time she was done reading the blog, Fae was sure of two things:

 

  * People were very perspective, and
  * Someone had _a lot_ of time in their hands.



 

She wondered what benefit humanity would have if people utilized their time and energy on better things. Like science. Unfortunately humanity seemed prone to disappoint her. With that in mind, she finally got down to writing the fourth chapter of her book. She had, however, only written the first three pages when she heard the door of her office open.

 

“You’re early, Shelby,” she stated, not looking up as she continued typing the chapter, “usually you take more than half an hour visiting Arnold.”

 

An unfamiliar cough came from where Shelby was supposed to be standing.

 

Fae looked up frowning but then stopped short. Her eyes widened and she could only just manage to stand up. _“Ben?”_ she muttered in disbelief. “What’re _you_ doing _here?”_

 

“I’m here to see you,” he told her, “we need to talk.”

 

She continued to stare at him in disbelief.


	6. Not-so-expected expected Answer

Fae continued to stare at Ben as he spoke and, well, found herself not paying the least attention to him. There was nothing she could say to him and so had allowed him to ‘explain himself.’ In her mind, the issue was quite simple.

 

Benedict was married.

 

The conversation was over.

 

Mr. Cumberbatch, however, did not seem to understand that one simple fact.

 

He carried on speaking and Fae decided that she’d wasted enough time for one day and sat back into her chair and went about her business. She was, after all, almost done with chapter five. And she was still six days behind schedule. She had to do something to get on with it.

 

Silence filled the room and she looked up to find Benedict staring at her expectantly.

 

“Well?” he asked her.

 

“Well what?”

 

“Your answer.”

 

Fae sighed. She didn’t know what to say and frankly, she could not really say what she wanted to though.

 

It was the world’s most impossible situation and she did not understand why he could not simply accept that.

 

“My answer is no,” she told him before carrying on with her work, hoping he’d go away because he was a bad kind of distraction for her.

 

“No?”

 

“Yup, you may leave,” she tried to remain as curt as possible.

 

“But Fa-”

 

“You’re married Ben,” she informed him, “I don’t care if it’s fake, or PR or whatever it is that you people do. I’m not interested in being the side girl. It’s vulgar and stupid and beneath me. I have better things to do.”

 

Benedict frowned. Now _that_ he had not expected. Well, Sara had told him to expect rejection but he’d assumed that if he explained himself, she would understand.

 

“But I thought we had something...”

 

“I did too,” she told him, “before I found out that you’re married. And have a son. When did you plan on telling me _that_ , hmm?”

 

He looked guilty and she continued, “See, you didn’t think that because you’re used to people throwing themselves at you by now. And this is precisely why I don’t do relationships with famous people. You guys are so fucking dense. Now please, leave. I have work to do.”

 

She walked towards the door and opened it, showing him the way out.

 

“Fae pleas-” He tried speaking but she interrupted him.

 

“Out.”

 

And he had no choice but to leave.

 

Fae sighed, closing the door and walking back to her desk.

 

She had only started work again when Shelby was at her.

 

“Why did you kick him out?” she demanded.

 

Fae rolled her eyes. “Because he’s an asshole who needs some time on planet Earth.”

 

“Dude, Benedict Cumberbatch-”

 

“I don’t know him as Benedict Cumberbatch,” she countered, “and I’m happy that I don’t. Now, please let me do my work. I have a lecture in two hours.”

 

Shelby scowled but said nothing and exited her office.

 

* * *

 

Benedict walked out of the Hicks Building towards the nearest park he could find. He didn’t know what to say or do for the matter and decided that the best course of action was to sit down and think.

 

Alone.

 

He didn’t get a lot of time to do that these days.

 

After a few minutes of searching, he found a park and a relatively isolated seat and sat down to think. He recalled the entire conversation he’d had with Fae.

 

There had been something different about her.

 

It was as though she was a completely different person.

 

And yes, she’d shut him out completely.

 

When he was coming to Sheffield, he had thought of various circumstances  but none of them involved such a straightforward rejection.

 

He didn’t know what to do.

 

His life had gone downhill since the contract.

 

He’d lost a lot of fans and good PR.

 

Of course, part of it was his own fault and not his marriage’s.

 

After all, he had sort of killed it for himself by taking his plea to help the Syrian Refugees to stage. He had known that it was a controversial topic and had yet spoken for what he thought was right.

 

And he still believed it to be so.

 

He was at a standstill.

 

The last few years had been so hectic and crazy and he’d loved every minute of it but then he’d decided to be like a ‘proper’ celebrity and went ahead with the trend of PR relationships. Most of his friends were in PR relationships and somewhere along the way, it had become the real deal for most of them.

 

He’d assumed that it would be similar with him and Sophie.

 

It was not.

 

They didn’t have a single thing in common despite their urges to be ambitious, successful people. For one thing, Sophie was still relatively unknown and he now knew that it was a mistake getting into a relationship with someone who was-

 

But Fae was unknown too, he realized.

 

But she chose to be, his conscious corrected her. He hadn’t met anyone like her before.

 

And that’s what made him come after her.

 

He didn’t know what to do.

 

And he still didn’t know what to do when he found himself calling Sara.

 

_“Yellow, did she say no?”_

 

Benedict rolled his eyes. “Yes, she did. She was quite straightforward.”

 

Sara chuckled. _“Told you. That’s our Fae. Blunt as a butter knife.”_

 

“I think she hates me,” he told her.

 

_“She doesn’t. She has a really rigid moral code.”_

 

“Code? What does that even mean?”

 

“She’s old-fashioned Ben. You kind of just blew your chance.”

 

“I wasn’t expecting it,” he admitted.

_“I told you she would.”_

 

“Sara, she hates me. I could see it in her eyes.”

 

_“There’s nothing you can do about it. Come back, it’ll be good for you.”_

 

“I know. How’s everything back in London?”

 

_“Peachy. Why?”_

 

A plan was formulating in his head. A plan to win Fae.

 

“I’m not going to come back just yet,” he told her. “I don’t think I’ll ever meet someone like her and not going to leave my future to chances.”

 

_“Your future is decided you idiot. With Sophie.”_

 

“I didn’t decide voluntarily. My PR company did.”

 

_“You’re going to get in a fucking load of shit.”_

 

“Eh, I have a plan. I’ll be here for a few days.”

 

_Sara sighed. “Fine. Just don’t hurt my friend okay?”_

 

Benedict smiled bitterly. “At this point, she’s the one who hurt me.”

 

And with that, he hung up, checking Google Maps for the location of Fae’s apartment.

 


	7. Surprise...Sort Of

Shelby gave her hell for dissing Cumberbatch.

 

Which in itself did not even make any sense because only a few hours ago, she had been bitching about fame going to his head and what not.

 

Needless to say, Fae was more than happy when her suddenly moody assistant left promptly at five, providing Fae some time to do her work.

 

She was done with chapter six by the time she got off work at nine and since that was the half way through the milestone she had been aiming to achieve for quite a while, she called up her literary agent to tell her the good news: she would be done with the book by this time next month.

 

Her agent was excited and prattled on about book sales, illustration, promotion (something which Fae was not particularly keen about) and many, many other things as Fae walked to the grocer’s. She spoke as Fae selected the night’s meal, spoke as she debated over which sugary delight she ought to treat herself with and was still speaking when Fae paid for her purchase.

 

Normally, Fae didn’t like people who spoke so much. Had it been Shelby or Arnold, she would have hung up the phone a long time ago but it was her _agent_ \- who was really good friends with her grandmother and so Fae made it a conscious effort not to piss her off.

 

It wasn’t just that though.

 

Fae was in a _good_ mood.

 

And that was something rare.

 

She was perfectly content with her life, yes, but ‘good’ moods seldom found her.

 

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had gotten rid of the one force that could have pushed her life out of its course.

_Benedict Cumberbatch._

 

Fae smiled faintly to herself as she walked home. Her agent had hung up only a few minutes ago, leaving her to think.

 

And her thoughts landed on him.

 

 _Yes, she was happy,_ she decided, that she got rid of him. She hadn’t been thinking right clearly when she gushed over him with Sara.

 

Granted, it was Sara- _sneaky, bitchy_ _Sara-_ who had initially set her up with a married man but that was that and it was over.

 

Fae’s life would never be dramatic anymore- in fact, Cumberbatch’s appearance on campus must have been the _most_ dramatic moment in her entire life- and she was happy.

 

She liked it calm, peaceful and ordered.

 

Sara had commented how the silence surrounding her was maddening but she liked it that way.

 

Everything was in her control. She could see herself enjoy the routine that was her life all day, every day for the rest of her existence.

_She didn’t need to be romantically involved with anyone_ , she told herself _, she was perfectly fine the way she was._

Relationships seemed so complicated and challenging to her- and not the kind of challenge she’d like to partake in anyway.

 

It sort of annoyed her that the next day would be a Friday- the beginning of the weekend but she decided that she’d bring her research home and carry on with it all the way through to Monday. It wasn’t as though she had anything to do in the weekend anyway.

 

Or so, she thought as she climbed up the flight of stairs to her apartment when she found Benedict Cumberbatch sleeping at her front door.

 

Fae frowned.

_Hadn’t she? What the fuck--? How did he…? SARA!_

 

He wasn’t completely asleep though because at that very moment, he looked up at her and smiled tiredly.

 

“Hello Fae,” he greeted her, “Would you let me in?”

 

Fae glared at him murderously but said nothing as she unlocked the door and allowed him to step inside. She would have left him outside but had been well aware of what could happen if any of his fans stumbled upon him. The last thing she needed was attention on her.

 

“I told you to leave,” she told him the minute they were inside.

 

Benedict nodded, yawning sleepily. “I know, I didn’t want to.”

 

“I’m going to kill Sara when I see her,” she hissed more to herself as she made her way into the kitchen.

 

Benedict followed her. “Ah, no. You won’t do that. She’s your best friend.”

 

Fae rewarded him with another glare. “You shouldn’t be here at all,” she stated as she put down the bag of grocery and looked about the kitchen for a pan or something. She’d only bought meal for one person and even though she absolutely hated Benedict Cumberbatch, she wasn’t going to be a horrible hostess.

 

She’d have to cook up something.

 

She briefly wondered if he was vegetarian but then shook her head. _Who cared if he was vegetarian?_ She was vegan and he’d have to accept that.

 

“I wanted to spend time with you,” he said.

 

“And I made it perfectly clear that I never want to see you again,” she reminded him. He said nothing to that and simply smiled lazily.

 

He watched her as she quickly hobbled about the kitchen, making dinner. Fae felt strange, to put it mildly. She’d have last minute guests over more often than she could count but never someone she….well, had commanded herself to not be emotionally attached to.

 

Benedict Cumberbatch could not remain in her life.

 

And it simply wouldn’t do.

 

She made the meal, plated it, gave one plate to Ben and the other to herself and quickly finished her meal.

 

He wasn’t finished when she was so she took the opportunity to quickly change and set up his bed on the couch.

 

“It’s weird seeing you in _normal_ clothes,” he commented from the doorway as he entered the living room after a while.

 

Fae rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood to speak with him.

 

“Like I’ve always seen you in formal clothes- even your work clothes are really formal,” he continued.

 

“I’m a big fan of dressing practically according to the occasion,” she told him curtly. “This is your bed for night and you leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

 

He said nothing to that, just nodded his head. He was so tired that she wasn’t sure if he heard her. “Tomorrow?” he asked her instead and she nodded before making her way to her own bedroom.

 

Normally, she would have been reading a book or something until she fell asleep but the idea of someone else- Benedict being in the next room as her made her feel strangely _under inspection_. It made her very much conscious of her surroundings and so she buried herself beneath the sheets, hoping that maybe being in the sleep environment would help her fall asleep.

 

It didn’t and Fae found herself checking up on Ben a bunch of times to make sure that he was fine (because that’s how one treated their guest; it had nothing- she repeated to herself- nothing to do with the fact that she was worried that he wasn’t too comfortable because the couch wasn’t big enough for his six foot something form) before finally, falling into a restless albeit deep sleep.


	8. The Unsolvable Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I could solve the Yang-Mills problem. That'd look great on my college app. Oh well. Enjoy!

Fae woke up to the smell of waffles and _fried eggs_. Strange because, well, Fae didn’t remember buying eggs.

 

The last time she’d bought eggs was in university.

 

Maybe.

 

She wasn’t sure.

 

Then again, she wasn’t usually sure of most things and so Fae decided to let it be.

 

She walked out of her bedroom to find Ben in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

 

Fae frowned.

 

What was he doing here? She wondered.

 

And then it came back to her.

 

Benedict Cumberbatch had come out here to see her, to apologize and refused to go back home.

 

And that certainly wouldn’t do.

 

He needed to leave immediately.

 

He was microseconds away from ruining her life and she was not going to allow it.

 

“Why’re you still here?” she asked, doing her best to look annoyed and formidable only to fail miserably because:

 

 (A) She wasn’t an intimidating person, and

 (B)Benedict looked really adorable, what with his hair all messed up (no thanks to her stupid couch), as he paid utmost attention to the meal he was preparing.

 

Fae chose to ignore both key facts.

 

She focused on Ben who seemed okay with ignoring her question.

 

“I thought I’d make something,” he told her, not even looking at her as he plated breakfast, “since you were completely knocked out. You looked really tired Fae,” he rattled on, “You should take a break sometimes.”

 

Fae rolled her eyes. “The only thing I’m tired of is you,” she told him, “I want you to leave Cumberbatch. Immediately.”

 

That made him stop what he was doing and Fae commended herself on that. But then he did a half smile, almost a smirk, as he clucked, “Nope, not happening.”

 

“I’m going to kick you out of my house,” she threatened.

 

“And I’ll gladly camp out,” he responded immediately as he finished plating.

 

Fae said nothing to that and scowled as she followed him into the sitting room. She’d set up a little four chair table near the kitchen there since it was a big room and all Fae had was a couch and coffee table.

 

And a television set that was decades old.

 

Fae just didn’t have it in her to replace it with a new one. She’d grown attached to it.

 

She also had two whole walls of bookshelves.

 

But then she was a scientist. What else was she supposed to have?

 

“I didn’t know what you liked,” Benedict admitted as both settled into their chairs opposite one another. “So I made waffles. Hope you don’t mind.”

 

“Not really,” she admitted, “they’re all dairy free so there’s that.”

 

“You really don’t eat anything meat related now do you?” he asked.

 

“Yup,” she responded, “I don’t see the point.”

 

“But what about a burger or something?”

 

Fae snorted. “Veggie burgers taste the same. Besides, it’s also a protest against all those big fast food chains that don’t think twice about the environment when destroying rainforests for their cattle ranches. And don’t even get me started on the animal rights violation that they’re happy to put up with.”

 

Benedict said nothing to that and Fae decided that she liked him better when he didn’t talk.

 

“So do you have to go to work today?” he asked her.

 

Fae nodded. “Yeah but I'm off after lunch. Why?”

 

“I thought we could do something together,” he said.

 

That made her stop. “No, you’re going to board a plane back to London,” she responded firmly, “we agreed that you’d l-”

 

“There’s no flight all weekend,” he informed her and Fae frowned.

 

_“What?”_

 

“Yeah.”

 

“No really?” she asked.

 

“Well, no low key flight, mind the pun,” he admitted.

 

“What pun?”

 

Benedict stared at her in awe. “Never mind, you haven’t watched the Avengers have you?”

 

The look on Fae’s face was enough to give him that answer.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Since Shelby was content with ignoring her for the day, Faith had no choice but to go back on her vow and involve Sara.

 

Not that involving her would make things better anyways, her brain reminded her. If anything, involving Sara often made the situation worse.

 

Needless to say, since this was her fault to begin with, Fae chose to make her the victim of her rant as she chalked some key points about a particularly hard problem set which a student had uncovered.

 

Sara was on speaker as she did so.

 

 _“I don’t see your issue though,”_ she was saying as though her opinion mattered anyway. Fae was angry at herself and Sara, and also Benedict and herself- actually, she was mad at herself twice over because, _well_ , she was unable to make him leave.

 

“There is no issue,” she said as she went over the derivation presented in the problem. Fae rolled up sleeves having forgone her jacket a long time ago. There was something very, very wrong with this question…

 

_“Then what’s the problem?”_

 

“He’s here. He’s not going.”

 

_“Fae…”_

 

“What?”

 

_“What’s **really** the problem?”_

 

“Nothing,” she said running a hand through her hair in frustration (and not being even remotely aware of the fact that her jet black pixie had taken a dusty salt and pepper color in the process). She’d studied Further Mathematics in A Levels, _surely she could solve it yes?_

 

Evidently no.

 

It looked oddly familiar though.

 

Fae scratched her forehead before trying a different route. Maybe Math was the way to do it. That, or quantum physics.

 

She didn’t use that in her research often though. She was, after all, what could only be called a string theorist. Nonetheless, even she could not deny its possible application here.

 

Fae tried the other route.

 

 _“You’re not listening to me are you?”_ Sara’s voice interrupted her.

 

“I am,” she said, “it’s just this one question. I don’t remember ever giving this to my students. It seems much more advanced. It’s really elegant but I think I’ve got a hang of it. Give me a minute.”

 

And that’s exactly what it took. Fae took one minute and thirty three seconds to solve the question and then turned back to her mobile phone.

 

“Now, what were we talking about?” she asked Sara, switching off the speaker and bringing the phone to her ear.

 

 _“Ben,”_ Sara reminded her, “and the various non issues that exist in your life.”

 

“Oh yeah,” she said, “tell him to go back. Please, I beg of you! He wants to take me out somewhere after work today and it’s frustrating because, well _, he’s married._ I feel guilty that he’s cheating on his wife. _Why doesn’t he feel guilty?_ ”

 

 _“Because it’s a PR relationship Fae_ ,” Sara explained, _“they’re probably just friends. Maybe they’re okay with it.”_

 

“That’s creepy,” Fae admitted.

 

 _“You don’t know how things work do you?”_ her friend asked her.

 

Fae sighed. “No I don’t. I just- I thought matrimony was supposed to be sacred and holy and stuff like that. How can you fake it?”

 

 _“I’ll explain when you’re older,”_ Sara said, finally accepting defeat. There was no way that Fae would ever understand the workings of the media.

 

“Yeah, do that,” Fae said. Looking at the clock that hung above her office door, she realized that it was almost time for her meeting. “I gotta go. Call you later?”

 

 _"Erm, okay, bye!”_ Sara said very, very loudly.

 

She muttered a good bye, cringing at the damage that was done to her left ear as she hung up. Then she made her way towards her desk and had only just started to wear her jacket when Harry Abbott from the Mathematics Department popped in.

 

They’d decided to walk to the meeting together since their offices were close and Fae had a tendency to forget such things.

 

“I’ll be a minute,” she told him as she hurriedly wore her jacket but Harry wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were fixed on her blackboard.

 

He walked towards it in a trance.

 

“Are you alright Harry?” she asked him quite confused with her colleague’s odd behaviour.

 

“Did you do this?” he asked her, looking as though he’d seen a ghost.

 

“Yes, why?”

 

“Do you know what that is?”

 

“A problem set?”

 

Harry gave her a look that said, _‘seriously?’_

 

“A student gave me this,” she elaborated.

 

“A student?”

 

“Yeah, why?”

 

"You have no idea what you just did, do you?"

 

"No?"

 

Harry’s face broke into a grin. “Faith Chambers, you just proved the existence of Yang-Mills Theory!”

 

Fae stared at him in confusion. “I did?”

 

“Yes, you did!” he exclaimed, “You just solved Yang–Mills existence and mass gap problem!”

 

Fae did a double take as she looked back at the chalk board. And sure enough, there it was, the solution to one of the Millennium Prize Problems.

 

 _Well shit,_ she thought.

 


	9. Talks of Awards

 

“And who was the student that gave you the question?” the Head of Department, Dr Keith Dickens, asked her.

 

“It was one of the physics majors, Daniel Maguire, maybe? Yeah, definitely him,” she replied.

 

“So let me get this straight,” he said, “one of your students pranked you into attempting to solve an unsolvable problem and you accepted it without realizing that it’s a, well, unsolvable. And somehow you managed to solve it while talking to your friend on the phone about a personal issue.”

 

Fae thought for a moment, evaluating whether to add or retract something from it. Nope, it was the jest of it. That’s _basically_ what happened.

 

“Yeah,” she agreed.

 

The man before her looked amazed, to put it mildly.

 

“You know,” he went on to say, “I knew there was something different about you the moment your professor brought you in for challenging the core element of the Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics class in your freshmen year. I knew you’d do something incredible. Discover gravitational waves? Unfortunately the people at MIT beat you to that but- an unsolvable? And you’re what? Thirty?”

 

“Twenty nine in a few months,” she answered.

 

“You’re not even thirty yet,” he remarked. “This is brilliant. You’re brilliant. Do you have any idea what’s in store for you Dr Chambers?”

 

“Umm, more funds for research?” she offered, not entirely sure of the answer.

 

Dr Dickens laughed. “Funds are going to be the least of your worries Chambers,” he informed her, “We’re talking potential Nobel Prize nominations.”

 

Fae’s eyes widened. “No,” she blurted, “me? A Nobel Prize? Yeah, right. Look at the equation. I’m sure there’s a mistake somewhere. I mean… I can’t win…. A Nobel Prize…” Her voice trailed off at the gravity of the situation.

 

Suddenly, she felt faint.

 

_Was this really real?_

 

Fae pinched herself.

 

_Oh yes, it was real._

 

And she’d probably have a bruise now too.

 

She did not like the way her day was going.

 

“You’ll probably win the Fields Medal or something before that,” her senior went on, “and probably the De Morgen Medal too. Actually, if we put this out tomorrow, you’re definitely winning the De Morgen Medal. How does that sound Chambers?”

 

“But I’m a physicist,” she exclaimed, “why do I get a math award? This can’t be happening to me.”

 

“Oh but it is,” he went on, the panic mode that Fae was finding herself in, clearly lost to him, “Math and physics are one and the same, Faith. They’re just two different approaches. Besides, didn’t you do a BSc in Math?”

 

“But that was eight years ago,” she protested.

 

“Well, it came in handy,” he said.

 

Fae wanted the ground to split open and swallow her whole.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

It was five o’clock by the time she arrived back home.

 

Since she’d already told him her schedule for the day, Benedict was quick to ask, “Where were you? I thought you said you’d be done by lunch.”

 

Fae sighed. She was exhausted from accepting congratulations, explaining her colleagues and seniors and mentors the way she solved the problem, not to mention the video conference with the people at the IMU, CMI and NASA (she didn’t understand why NASA was interested in a mathematical issue. Weren’t they dedicated to astrophysics and the like?) and honestly, had no energy to stick to her set of moral codes and be mean to Benedict.

 

She was just too tired for that.

 

“I might have done something,” she told him, not sure how to put it. While everyone she knew was praising her, calling her genius and what not, Fae still didn’t know how she’d come to solving the Yang-Mills Problem.

 

When she read about new discoveries, it was always by incredibly talented and smart people. Not someone awkward and silly enough to be pranked by students on regular basis like her.

 

It didn’t make sense.

 

She was just… Fae.

 

Ordinary Fae.

 

Well, not ordinary but Fae nonetheless.

 

She wouldn’t flatter herself and name herself a genius because she wasn’t.

 

It _just_ didn’t make sense.

 

At all.

 

“Oh, are you in trouble?” he asked her.

 

She shook her head. “No, I’m exhausted,” she admitted, “I solved one of the Millennium Prize Problems.”

 

“Ah,” was all he said and she smiled.

 

That’s the thing she liked about him, she reckoned, he didn’t particularly know what she was talking about and yet seemed interested.

 

Her family never did that.

 

He was from the strange world of Hollywood glamour that she’d grown up into and yet somehow, connected with her.

 

It wouldn’t hurt to let her guard down, her subconscious nudged her and Fae decided to go with it. After all, she was rather rude to Ben.

 

If only he wasn’t married…

 

“It’s this set of mathematical problems that can’t be solved,” she told him.

 

“Really? How many are there?”

 

“There were seven,” she explained, “But someone solved one of them last year and now, I solved one of them. It would appear.”

 

That seemed to do it. “Wow, that must be incredible!” he exclaimed.

 

“It’s not really,” she dismissed it with a wave of her hand, “just got lucky. The sad part is, a student pranked me into solving because, well, it was unsolvable. I don’t think he anticipated me actually solving it. Boo hoo him, I’m going to show him the solution on Monday and make him write a five thousand word essay on why it’s rude to act like a smart ass with one’s teacher. I might even cancel an assignment or two.”

 

“That’s harsh,” Ben said, “since that kid’s basically the reason why you even attempted the problem.”

 

Fae allowed herself to smile. “That’s true but… he needs to learn his place.”

 

Benedict found himself grinning.

 

“So what do you want to do today, Dr Chambers?” he asked her.

 

“Well, someone told me that he wanted to take me out somewhere,” she responded. “I’m wondering if the offer still stands.”

 

His grin widened. “Of course,” he said, “dinner?”

 

“Sure.”

 

And so, against her better judgement, Fae allowed Benedict Cumberbatch, a man married with a child, to dine and wine her.


	10. Dinner

“And that is how I landed the role of Sherlock,” Benedict told her over a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs at a local Italian/Modern restaurant hybrid.

 

Or at least that’s what she thought it was.

 

Fae decided to focus on the conversation.

 

“And yes,” he went on, “I know. I play ridiculously smart characters though I might not be that smart myself.”

 

That made her smile and for some reason Benedict took that as encourage and told her about the incredibly embarrassing time when he met Stephen Hawking. Needless to say by the end of _that_ story, Fae was wiping tears from her eyes.

 

“Did you really say that to him?” she asked him.

 

“Yes,” he replied, “I had a very, _erm_ , severe headache. I didn’t realize that I was thinking out loud.”

 

“Well, thank goodness I’ve never met him,” she said.

 

“You haven’t?” He looked surprised. “Your brother has met him.”

 

“Well, duh, the entire cast of The Theory of Everything met him,” she said, “I’ve never ventured South for my research. It’s always been here or Scotland.”

 

Ben raised a brow. “Really? I thought Oxford or Cambridge might be up your alley.”

 

That made her roll her eyes. “Yeah right _, Oxford or Cambridge_ ,” she said, “I’m not that good.”

 

“Oh c’mon,” he countered, “you solved an unsolvable. That’s got to count.”

 

Fae looked heavenwards and sighed. “It doesn’t really matter,” she explained, “I’m a physicist. I haven’t done anything substantial in my own field. Math was my minor. It’s not impressive.”

 

“Everyone else seems to think it is,” he pointed out.

 

Fae wished that she’d never told him about the video conferences.

 

“Because it’s never been solved before,” she told him.

 

“No, it’s because you’re incredible enough to solve it,” he countered.

 

Fae smirked. “You’re just flattering me at this point, aren’t you?”

 

“Of course I am,” he grinned.

 

“You’re one cheeky bastard, you know that?”

 

“Cheeky bastard? I haven’t heard that one since university,” he admitted.

 

“Hmm, that might bring memories,” she mused.

 

“It does,” he admitted, “it’s incredibly weird that I’m literally a city away from it.”

 

“You went to Manchester?” she asked.

 

“Yup,” he admitted. “One of the best years of my life.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, I discovered my passion for acting there.”There was a dreamy, distant look on his face and Fae realized that the topic was something dear to him.

 

Silence followed for a few minutes as both continued with their meal. Fae contemplated her actions. Maybe she could do something nice for him for a change. Maybe-

 

“That’s an hour away from here by train,” she pointed out.

 

“What?”

 

“Manchester,” she said, “Do you want to visit?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I have to give the draft of my book to a friend at the university,” she explained, “maybe if you could come with me, you could…um, like visit?”

 

“You can do that?”

 

“Yeah, I could,” she went on, “I had to do it anyway so there’s that.”

 

He thought for a moment and then said, “That would be really nice actually. Thanks for considering it.”

 

“No problem,” she said, “though you will have to spend a little time with me in the Physics department.”

 

“That’s not an issue. I might learn something from you guys. Who knows? Maybe I might become a physicist as well,” he joked.

 

Fae looked highly amused. “Yeah right,” she quipped, “I thought you hated science.”

 

Ben’s smile fell and Fae knew that she’d slipped.

 

“What?” he asked, now wearing an amused expression himself. “How’d you know that?”

 

“I…umm…well,” Fae struggled to come up with a valid reason since the only one she had was the fact that, well, she’d read up all about him, “Shelby told me.”

 

Ben didn’t look like he believed her. “Of course,” he humored her. The smirk he was wearing told her another story.

 

“It’s true,” she added, “she really did.”

 

“I’m not saying anything,” he simply stated. He’d be a liar if he said that he didn’t enjoy making Faith uncomfortable. Her ears had started to turn a deep shade of red that was thoroughly amusing and he found that he quite liked it that way. He wondered what other things made that happen. He certainly hadn’t noticed it before.

 

“But you have that look,” she said, “that says that you don’t believe me. It’s true.”

 

“I’m not going to  say anything,” he explained, “because it makes me happy _a lot_ to know that you took the time to learn something about me.”

 

Fae could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks and at the moment she decided that she had another valid reason to despise him: he made her blush.

 

Like a school girl around her crush.

 

And she was _not_ pleased about that.

 

* * *

  

Fae wasn’t big on travelling; which was why she only but rarely frequented London- not that _that_ was an issue in itself because neither she nor her family were particularly fond of one another.

 

It didn’t help that she sorted hated flying to begin with. She had countless memories of nightmarish flights, full of tears and the unbearable ringing of bells in her ears and the unimpressed, more annoyed than concerned look on her mother’s face, to haunt her for a life time.

 

Not that she was fond of trains either.

 

Nasty, unhygienic, breeding grounds of diseases they were and she avoided those as well.

 

But, she decided on Saturday morning as she and Benedict boarded one train, she’d let go of her fear for a day.

 

Unfortunately, she was so caught up with the aspect of traveling that she forgot all about the other thing she hated: people. Lots and lots of people crammed up in one long, narrow metal tube; all of them not hesitating to judge the strange woman- child that she was and that’s what made her feel even more sick.

 

 _What had she been thinking?_ She wondered as she shuffled uncomfortably in her spot.

 

She didn’t like this.

 

At all.

 

She felt suffocated and dizzy and so very uncomfortable and _exposed_ and-

 

A hand found its way to hers and took a hold of it.

 

Fae looked up to see Benedict looking at her, a brow raised in confusion. It was only then that she noticed their height difference. She was tall- yes, but for the women in her family. Compared to other women, she had a fairly normal height of around 5’6. Ben was obviously more than six feet tall and he easily towered over her and...

 

…that just added to the overall caving in feeling she was having.

 

“Are you alright?” he whispered and Fae shivered because, well, her senses were suddenly heightened.

 

“I just get a little…uncomfortable,” she told him, “I don’t travel much.”

 

He nodded as though it was perfectly understandable.

 

“We’ll be seated in a few minutes,” he reassured her.

 

Fae nodded even though her thoughts were elsewhere by now.

 

She was worried. If it continued this way, she would soon have bigger problems to deal with. It wasn’t common for her to know someone who found her strange behavior and fears to be reasonable. He would be going back to London on Monday and the last thing she wanted was to become emotionally attached to him.

 

 _It’s never going to work out,_ her conscious whispered and she believed it because, well, it was true. But for some reason, her mind told her to cherish it while it lasted.

 

Ben would be returning to London soon and everything was going to be the way it was again.

 

And she would be alone again.

 

For the first time in a long time, Fae decided that she didn’t quite like that.

 


	11. Cafe Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! It's been a while, I'll give you that. More like eleven months. I'll admit that intense procrastination was the main root cause of this but don't worry, I'm back for good. I will finish this story. In this very year.

Ben met with all of his old teachers- the ones who hadn’t retired yet anyway- and even introduced her to them.  Strangely enough, Fae- who generally had bad experience with people of the Arts- enjoyed meeting with his teachers and even a few college friends who had ended up teaching there. Ben was ecstatic, she could tell and, even though she would never admit it, that made her feel a _whole_ lot better and, so by the time lunch rolled by, she had also gotten over any feels of nausea which the train had given way to.

 

They went to a cozy, little hole -in- the- wall café for lunch which, Ben told her, he often frequented in university.

 

 At it did seem so because the owner greeted him like a long lost son. After much greetings and talks of his life, the owner’s life, who Fae was- if she was that special someone he’d been looking for (apparently he’d often talk to the man about that) and the like.

 

By the time they’d been seated at the back of the café, Fae knew more about him in college than she would have liked.

 

_Or not._

 

But he didn’t need to know that. She did, however, have to ask him-

 

“Did you really consider sleeping with your teacher when you thought you’d failed a course?” she asked him.

 

 

Ben choked on his drink. “He told you _that?”_ he enquired.

 

“Yup,” she answered, “what were you expecting anyway? You left me with Harvey for a good five minutes while you ordered genius. A lot can happen in that time.”

 

Ben looked amused. _“That’s all it took?”_

 

“Well, yeah,” she said, “he asked me what I did and when I told him, he told me about that.”

 

“Of all the things,” he groaned, “ _that’s_ what he decided to tell you?”

 

Fae raised a brow. “You mean, there’s _more?”_

 

“What? No!”

 

There was silence for a few moments before she asked again.

 

“Did you really though?”

 

Benedict glared at her but then sighed.

 

“Yes,” he added sheepishly.

 

* * *

 

The rest of the day went well. After lunch, Benedict showed Fae around Manchester- which for some reason he could not fathom, she hadn't done so already on her own. They visited his favourite ice cream parlour which was still around (Benedict decided that he ought to visit it more often; maybe even bring Kit when he was old enough) and then went back to Sheffield by the five o'clock train. 

 

It was almost dark by the time they'd arrived in Sheffield and Fae decided that they'd best have an early dinner. Where to, she did not tell him, claiming that it was her turn to surprise him. She took him to a traditional Indian restaurant after which they went to a pub nearby. It had been a long time since she'd visited this particular pub, she told him between drinks. 

 

Somewhere during the drinks and the chatter in the pub, they'd taken to telling each other stories from their past. Benedict told her about the time he was in Tibet, the dilemma of choosing between becoming a lawyer or an actor and she told him about her family problems.

 

"Black sheep, huh?" Ben repeated her nick name for herself. 

 

"Yup," she nodded, donning her drink completely. Both of them were very tipsy at this point and whatever reserve Fae possessed had gone down the drain. "Sometimes I think I'm adopted. I would even believe it if it weren't for Desi who looks _just_ like me."

 

Benedict agreed on that.

 

"Seriously, it's weird," she went on, "are twins supposed to be so identical?"

 

"I guess so, that's why they're called _identical_ twins?" he offered.

 

Fae gave him a big, big smile before punching his arm lightly. "Ha ha, you're enjoying this aren't you?"

 

"Yes, completely."

 

She nodded, grabbing her purse. "Let's go. It's _waaay_ past my bedtime."

 

"You have a bedtime?" Benedict gasped in surprise.

 

"Yup," she nodded once more, dragging him out of the pub with her, "Every minute of my life is planned. I love order. I hate disorganization."

 

"Well, you're gonna be severely disappointed when I tell you that I'm usually late," he informed her.

 

"Huh, really? Guess it's true then."

 

"What?"

 

"Opposites attract."

 

"Wha-"

 

But Fae didn't give him a chance to answer for she kissed him right there and then, not caring where they were, who he was and who she was. Fae kissed him. In a crowded street. On a Saturday night. 

 

And that was most certainly not a part of her _'plan.'_


	12. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm only *checks calender* a month and a half later than I thought I would be. Next chapter will be up in a fortnight. Yup, definitely.

Sunday morning saw Fae wake up with one of the worst- no, scratch that, _the_ worst hangover of her life- which was saying something because Fae had had her fair share of hangovers. She didn’t know what to do. Normally- well, that wasn’t even applicable right now because normally she avoided this kind of stunt- she would have been up by now, working on her book. Earlier this week, she had set a deadline for herself which was two weeks before her official deadline but Fae liked to safe than sorry. It was the motto of her life- the life which she had built for herself in Sheffield.

This was how she preferred to live.

Safe.

She didn’t want any life regrets coming her way any time soon.

 _Guess it’s time to get up now,_ she thought as she tried to sit up. Something, or rather _someone_ , was stopping her. Fae opened her eyes and noticed an arm draped around her waist.

So that’s what was keeping her from getting up! Fae moved to remove the arm and get up when she froze. Her eyes widened.

 _‘Please don’t let it be,’_ she found herself wishing as she slowly turned her head around to see who was in bed with her. Almost immediately, she shut her eyes and gritted her teeth in shame.

 _Benedict_.

It was Benedict.

It _had_ to be Benedict.

Why couldn’t it have been anyone but him?

Seriously, was that too much to ask for?

Fae brought her hands to her face and covered it with them. No, no, no! She’d ruined it. She’d ruined the little safe haven she’d built for her! Oh why, oh why- hadn’t she kicked him out the very first ni-

“You’re up.” Benedict’s voice interrupted her chain of thought.

Fae glared at him. “Shut up,” she said, distressed.

“Is everything alright?” he asked her concerned almost immediately. “Are you feeling alright? I wasn’t too rough, was I? I ca-”

Fae’s glare intensified and he did shut up this time. Her face turned a deep red as she answered, “Why ever would you think that? That’s not the problem!”

“Then what is?”

“I’ve broken my code!” she wailed melodramatically.  “I swore I would never break my code!”

“Code?” Benedict asked, confused.

“Moral code!” she informed him. “I’d vowed to myself that I wouldn’t do something like…. like…” She made hand gestures pointing at them and their surroundings. “…. _this_. I’m a horrible person!” She covered her face with her hands once more.

Benedict put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” he tried to assure her, “it’s not really your fault.”

“You’re right,” she agreed, lowering her hands.

“See, it’s not…”

 _“It’s your fault!”_ she pointed a finger at him.

“My fault?!”

“Yes! I didn’t ask you to come here! Why did you come? You ruined my sanctuary! I’m no better than my stupid sister,” she shrieked, “and I always thought I was the better one too.”

She looked absolutely miserable and Benedict felt guilty for making her feel like that.

“Fae,” he began but she interrupted.

“Don’t say another word,” she warned him. “I’m trying to calm myself.” She took a few deep breaths and then turned to face him.

“You’re going back tonight,” she said, “this never happened. You’re going to go back to your wife. You’re going to be the famous actor that you are and I’m going to stay, being a good physicist. That’s all.”

“Hang on,” he interrupted her, “don’t I get to decide on any of this?”

“No,” she replied, “you’ve already done enough damage. I can’t live with this. I ca-”

Benedict rolled his eyes and pulled her in for a kiss. Even though she had frozen at first, she eventually gave in and kissed him back. “Why do you make me feel this way?” she asked him, still uncomfortable with the whole idea of being the side chick- after all, that’s what she was now. The side chick. Why had she slept with a married man? Were her morals really that low?

“You love me,” Ben replied and she shook her head.

“No, it’s too early for that,” she said.

“What does that mean?”

“You can’t fall in love with someone so quickly,” she argued, “that’s just weird.”

“I did.”

“Yes, but you’re married.”

Benedict chuckled at that. “You wish I wasn’t.”

“I do.”

“Fae…”

“Yes?”

“Stop freaking out.”

“I’m not freaking out,” she countered immediately.

He looked at her hands pointedly; they were shaking.

“Okay, so maybe I am freaking out,” she admitted, “but you- why aren’t you feeling guilty? You just cheated on your wife!”

“Sophie and I have an understanding,” he told her.

Fae looked shocked. “But you have a child!”

He looked mildly annoyed as he explained it to her, “When I met Sophie, it was part of our deal that we would have a child together because there was nothing to suggest that I would meet a woman who I’d come to love and marry. Of course,” he took her hand in his, “if I’d known that I’d meet you just a few months after signing that bloody contract, I would have never done it.”

“But why _did_ you do it?” she asked him.

“Pressure.”

“Huh?”

“People were beginning to ask questions,” he said, “some were wondering if I was gay. Hollywood’s kind of homophobic despite the liberal image that it projects. I couldn’t afford to be passed over so I did what I had to.”

“But why’d you have to go and make a family with her?”

“Requirements. Some wanted a family man. Apparently that makes for a good PR campaign when you’re doing movie promotions,” he told her.

“And you went with it?”

“Yes.”

“When does your contract end?”

Ben looked heavenwards, thinking. “2018… or 19. I’m not sure- no, 2018. December.”

“That’s short,” she commented.

“It’ll be up for renewing,” he informed her.

“Oh…”

“But if you’re there,” he said, “I’d do away with it.”

“Ben…” she thought before answering. “It’s still a year to go. A lot can happen in a year.”

“Exactly,” he replied. “Which is why I’m asking you to give me a chance.”

Fae looked uncertain. Heck, she felt uncertain. She did not want to be the side chick but then… it _was_ only a year. Her sister had done it; so had Sara- she could do it. She wasn’t even in the spotlight like they were.

“No one can know,” she told him, “except Sara obviously.”

He nodded. “Thank you,” he said, kissing her forehead. “No one will know.”

“Promise?”

Benedict chuckled. “I promise.”


	13. Walk In The Park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This might be cheesy. I'm sorry. I'm a physics nerd.

Breakfast went by faster than she’d expected. But then, that had probably everything to do with the fact that Benedict- she didn’t know why she kept calling him that even though he had asked her to call him Ben- was actively helping her with preparing the meal.

“So when did you decide to go vegan?” he asked her.

Fae thought hard. “I think it was….yes, definitely. It was my first term at Cambridge,” she answered, “I used to do like, _proper_ hard drugs back then. Picked up the habit in school, got in the wrong crowd; you know, that kind of sob story. I went overboard with it at university and I ended up in the hospital.”

“Ouch. That’s bad.”

“It was,” she told him, “my mother was furious. Something about reputation. I was expelled from Cambridge immediately.”

“Yikes.”

“Tell me about it. So anyway, family drama and disapproval aside,” she continued, “I had a talk with my doctor he said that I should’ve died. I had done so much drugs and the like. I shouldn’t’ve been there. I felt like that was my second chance and so I took it. I talked to him about the damage I’d done to my body and he suggested that the quickest way to undo the damage was to go vegan. Because it wasn’t just the drugs, I’d have all of this fried, fast food and stuff and then I wouldn’t even be proper about my diet. So really, I’ve been trying to undo the damage I did to myself for five years and it’s taken me ten years and counting to even get a bit better. I went to the doctor last month and he says that now my body’s shown to be actively healing. Up until now it was just a really long detox period.”

“Wow, that must be difficult,” Ben said.

“It’s not really,” she told him, “it’s all about getting the right product. It’s simple enough.”

“But George said you had an alcohol problem,” he pointed out before stopping.

“You talked to George about me?” she sounded surprised.

“Yeess, is that a bad thing?” he asked quizzically.

“No, when did you ask him?”

“Since the wedding.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“My, my, you’ve been getting your information right,” she observed.

“So is it true?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been trying to get over my alcohol issues,” she said, “but umm… I can’t seem to. My doctor says it’s fine because I’m not overdoing it but I’d honestly rather not be doing it at all. I’m trying to fix myself.”

Benedict hummed in agreement and they had breakfast.

 

* * *

 

 

After breakfast, Ben managed to convince Fae to go out with him- this time to the park near her apartment.

“But why?” she asked him as they walked to it.

“I figured it’d be nice,” he replied. “I want to spend as much time with you as possible before I get back.” He kissed her and Fae froze.

“We’re in public!” she gasped.

Ben looked around. “No one cares Fae,” he said, “relax. C’mon.” He guided her through the park.

“Why do I get the feeling that you’ve been here?” she questioned.

“I have.”

“Really? When?”

“When you told me to leave you alone,” he informed her, “I came here.”

“Oh. Sorry about that,” she apologized.

“It’s alright.” Benedict stopped walking. “We’re here.”

Fae turned her focus to the scene in front of them. He’d bought them to an isolated part of the park. It was a little clearing right next to the lake and a large oak tree and bushes hid the clearing from sight.

“Come on.” He took hold of her hand and walked towards it. He sat down, his back against the oak tree and pulled her down in his lap.

“What’re you up to?” Fae asked him, and he brought his index finger to his lips.

“Shhh,” he said before taking a hold of her chin with the same index finger and his thumb. Then he leaned in and kissed her.

“I seriously don’t get what you’re doing,” she told him.

Benedict smiled. “Enjoy the moment Fae,” he told her.

“I’ll try,” she mumbled. He pulled her closer to him and she rested her head on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a good while.

“You’re being weird,” Fae said finally.

“I know,” he replied.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“I don’t want to go back,” he admitted. Fae moved her head to look at his face and noticed that his expression was stern. His eyes looked murky, as though there was some inner turmoil that he was trying to resolve. “I’ve made a mistake, Fae.”

“You didn’t know,” she said, “it’s only been a year. You couldn’t have known that you’d meet me.”

He closed his eyes. “Yeah,” he agreed, “I couldn’t’ve known.”

Silence once more.

Fae didn’t like that so she decided to lighten the mood.

“You know,” she told him, resting her head on his shoulder once more. She could hear his heart beat from there and she found that it calmed her, “there’s a chance that my equation…” She stopped, giving him a chance to participate.

“The Yang- Mills?”

“Yeah that might help establish the quantum field theory,” she went on, “which may help with the quantum loop theory which is a rival of the string theory. Do you know what that is?”

“Is it that thing that believes that everything operates like a string’s frequency?”

“Sort of. So anyway, string and loop theories are like, the two main rival plans for how everything works. Now, string theory is more popular because more research has been done in it because results are more obvious _blah blah blah_ and it states that time travel is impossible. The loop theory, however, says that time travel is possible. So my equation helped loop theory’s case so if we do end up proving that the loop theory’s the real deal- there’s a huge possibility that time travel can happen. If time travel happens, let’s totally go back in the past to stop you from signing that stupid contract.”

Benedict chuckled. _“Really?”_

“Yeah, that’s the jest of it,” she shrugged.

“Well then, let’s hope that happens,” he said, kissing her forehead.

“It probably has for all we know,” she told him, “because in retrospective, if you travel back in time and change something, you create an alternate, parallel universe where that thing happened.”

“So you’re telling me that there’s an alternate universe where I never signed that contract?” he asked her, playfully.

“Definitely,” she said, “so don’t be sad. The universe’s got your back.”

He said nothing to that one.


	14. London Calling

After spending the reminder of their day at the park, Ben and Fae returned to her apartment for an early dinner. They spent a long time talking and didn’t even notice the time fly by until Ben’s phone began ringing.

It was Karen.

“Publicist,” Ben told her as he picked up the phone.

 _“Are you done?”_ Karon spoke on the other end _. “Do you have any idea how stressed I’ve been? Sophie was spotted with an ex boyfriend of hers and speculation is going through the roof. I’ve managed to cover it up with the paparazzi but this won’t die so easily. It’s going to come back and-”_

“I’m not even back in London yet,” he groaned.

 _“You tell me. You were supposed to be here by Monday,”_ she said _, “well, Monday’s begun. When are you coming back?”_

“Monday’s what?” Ben looked at the wall clock above Fae’s bookshelf. The clock read two o’clock. In the morning. His flight was at four. “My flight’s at five,” he told Karon. “I’ll see you at the office at eight?”

 _“Please do,”_ she said, _“I will not have this deal fall on me.”_ With that she hung up and Ben turned to Fae who was listening intently.

“Something’s happened?”

“Someone spotted Sophie around with an ex boyfriend or something,” he informed her, “Karon wants me to curb any rumours. You know. The usual.”

“That sucks,” she said.

“It does,” he agreed. “I should get packing,” he said. “It’ll take an hour to get to the airport, right?”

“I’ll come with you,” Fae offered immediately.

“Oh no, you’ve got work tomorrow… today.”

“Yeah and it’s fine. I’ll see you off and then head straight for work,” she explained, “it’ll be perfect.”

“You don’t want me to go do you Fae?”

“Nope.”

“I’ll visit as soon as I can,” he promised. “Maybe the week after the next. I’ll let you know.”

“Don’t come back on my accord,” she told him, “besides we’ve got Skype and stuff. I don’t want to be a problem or something.”

“You’ll never be a problem to me, Fae.”

She smiled at that, hoping that he meant it.

As the time for him to leave came forward, Fae’s doubts were returning. Statistically, being a side chick didn’t look too good. There was a forty seven percent chance that it would end badly with Ben choosing the contract and the make believe family he’d made with Sophie over her. But then, there was an equal (if not more) chance of Ben and Sophie’s marriage failing anyway because, well, half of all marriages ended in divorce.

Or so, she was told.

Fae didn’t really have any figures on the subject. She made a mental note to look into it. Maybe ask Jeremy Leonard. He was a sociologist, wasn’t he? She could ask Sara but Sara had only studied it in university before pursuing an acting career. So yes, Jeremy would have to do.

They took an Uber to the airport. The entire time, Ben didn’t speak at all which was fine since Fae didn’t know what to say either. She’d never been in such a situation before, she realized. Fae felt herself panic. What was she meant to do? Was she supposed to make a move- kiss him good bye or something? But then, wouldn’t anyone notice? Surely, no one would be around to notice them at five o’clock- well, four forty eight to be precise, but that wasn’t the point- in the morning. Would they?

Such questions continued to haunt her until they arrived at the airport. Fae didn’t get out of the car as Ben got his bag out of the trunk. When he noticed this, he asked her to join him. Unsure, Fae did as she was told.

“Are you alright?” he asked her.

“Mmm-hmm,” she nodded.

“You don’t look alright to me,” he stated.

“You can tell?” she was confused.

“You look as though you’ve seen a ghost,” he continued.

“Oops.”

“Fae?”

“Yeah?”

“Is something wrong?”

“No….”

“Are you sure?”

“Yup,” she insisted.

“So you wouldn’t mind if I went right now?”

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t,” she said.

“Okay then,” Ben said, “good bye.”

Fae couldn’t help but feel disappointed. So she hadn’t had to kiss him after all! Strangely enough, she felt more sad than happy at the idea. What was wrong with her?

“Bye,” she repeated, waving her hand.

Ben turned to go but then stopped, shaking his head. “Ah fuck it, I can’t do this,” he sighed before reaching out for her.

Fae looked at him in confusion. “Wha-” But she didn’t get to finish her sentence as he cupped her face with his hands and kissed her.

Fae felt her cheeks heat. What on earth?

“Public!” she hissed at him and Benedict laughed.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself,” he told her. “You looked so disappointed.”

“I did not!” she countered.

“Whatever you say Fae,” he said before pulling her for a hug. She returned it and he kissed her on her forehead before mumbling good bye once more.

“I’ll call you when I reach London, okay?”

She nodded and with a final wave, he left.

Fae felt heartbroken.

She’d known that it would be difficult, managing a secret relationship and all that, but she had no idea how it would be until this moment. Something told her that it was about to get difficult. She’d always chosen not to get involved with someone because of the emotional baggage. And she knew that her relationship with Ben would have a lot of those.

“What the fuck did you do Sara…” she mumbled to herself, cursing at her only friend’s failed match making tactics. Even though she wished that she’d never gotten herself in such a situation, the silly emotional side of her was more than happy to be with Ben. Something about finally finding someone who cared which even Fae had to succumb to.

She just hoped things would turn out well.

She turned pulled out her phone, opening the Uber app. She had Hicks Building to get to and a morning lecture with undergraduates.

Worst of all, she was behind schedule with her book.

Fae gritted her teeth in irritation. She was **_not_** amused.


	15. The Grumpy Scientist

Shelby was in for it when she walked into Dr. Chambers’ office in the morning. Her absentminded yet brilliant professor’s office was in absolute shambles and she was sure she’d tidied it up on Friday!

“Did the paper apocalypse happen here?” she inquired.

Faith immediately turned to her from where she stood, wrecking havoc by the photocopy machine. “I’m missing some papers,” she informed her. “Help me find them.”

Shelby took in the sight before her. Dr. Chambers’ hair was- like her office- an absolute mess as though she’d been constantly running her hands through them. She looked tired, skinnier than usual- but then, that was how she always looked when she chose to wear a lab coat.  Shelby did not understand why she was wearing a lab coat to begin with. There were no experiments lined up as far as she was concerned but then she saw the plain t- shirt and jeans she was wearing. No wonder. Faith had the strangest fashion sense and she always paired regular clothes with a lab coat when she came in those to work, which meant-

“Were you out somewhere?” she asked her.

Faith blinked. “What?”

“You were running an arrant before coming here?”

“That’s none of your business,” she snapped. Then, “yeah, why?”

“Because your outfit screams _‘I’m trying to make this look science-y’_ ,” she replied.

Faith frowned but then shrugged. “Eh, you’re right,” she said, before focusing on the issue at hand. “My papers. Mitchelson and Morley. Where are they?”

Shelby stared at her in disbelief. “Did you just turn this place into paper hell for those?” she asked.

Fae blinked. “Yes?” she answered quizzically. “Is that a problem?”

 _“Dude!”_ Shelby exclaimed as she made her way towards Fae’s desk. “I _told_ you I kept them here!” she announced before pulling them out from the lowest drawer. “How’d ya forget?”

No response. Faith looked at her blankly. “I’m sorry….?”

Shelby shook her head. “You forgot! Wait,” she stopped, “why’d you forget?”

“I’ve got other things occupying my brain as of now,” she replied truthfully.

Shelby narrowed her eyes. “I hope it’s guilt from throwing Benedict Cumberbatch out of here,” she said, crossing her arms haughtily.

Fae looked confused once more. “I didn’t kick him out of-” she stopped before correcting herself, “oh yeah, I did kick him out. What do you know…”

“How can you forget that?” Shelby asked her. “How do you kick Benedict Cumberbatch out of your office and forget about it? What are you?”

Faith rolled her eyes. “A human with other problems to deal with,” she commented, settling into her chair and getting on with paperwork.

“How do you forget that?” Shelby pressed on. “If Benedict Cumberbatch was at _my_ office, _I_ wouldn’t forget about it.”

“Oh, give me a break,” Fae groaned, “I’ve got enough worrying to do about him without you constantly pestering me.”

Shelby’s face lit up at that. “So you _are_ guilty about it!” she exclaimed.

Fae looked at her in disbelief. “Why are you so fixated with him?” she asked.

“Because he’s _awesome_ ,” Shelby replied, “and you rejected him.”

“I did not!”

“Did to- _What?”_

Fae looked heavenwards. “I’ve just made it worse,” she stated to no one in particular as she rubbed her face with her hands.

Shelby looked over the moon at that. “You must tell me _everything_!” she announced.

Fae glared at her. “For the last time, Shelby,” she said with great restraint. “Fuck off, or you’re fired.”

Shelby gasped. “Did you just curse?”

“….yes,” Fae responded through gritted teeth.

“I’m so proud of you!”

 _“OUT!”_ she shrieked and Shelby made a run for it.

“Rude,” she called as she closed the door shut.

 

* * *

 

 

Fae let out a sigh in relief once Shelby left her office. While normally she didn’t mind her assistant’s mindless chatter- in fact, she rather enjoyed it since Shelby possessed the rare talent to make her laugh every once in a while- today, she just wasn’t in the mood.

As much as she was hoping to avoid thinking about it, between her research and writing that stupid book- really? Whose idea was it? This book was becoming quite tedious and Fae wasn’t sure if she even wanted to go ahead with it anymore though that thought perished as soon as it entered her head- of hers, her mind would wander to Ben.

She couldn’t think straight.

He’d said that he would call her once he had landed but apart from a brief **_‘I’m in London’_** text that she had gotten immediately after her lecture, she had not heard from him.

Now, the rational part of her knew why she hadn’t heard from him: he had promised to see Karen at eight and it was ten thirty. Who was to say that she hadn’t already sent him off for some damage control PR stunt thing? For all she knew, he was probably sitting for an interview right now. Or perhaps he was on the way to one. Ben had to be careful. He couldn’t go around calling her in front of all those people.

She wanted their relationship to be a secret until the end of his contract, didn’t she?

As much as it irritated her, Fae knew deep within her heart that she _did_ want their relationship to last far beyond the contract’s expiration date. So by not calling her, Benedict was being cautious.

Fae wished she could happy about that but she couldn’t. After trying to write a page of her book, Fae closed the file. She wouldn’t be getting this done today until she heard from him- that, she was sure of.

Instead, she logged onto her university email addressing. “Might as well do some tidying up,” she muttered to herself. She decided to give it an hour or so before calling Shelby in to clean up her office.

As per ritual, she cleared out her junk folder before moving to her Inbox. Interestingly, she’d gotten a few emails from a few of her colleagues. Fae clicked on the most recent. An e- card popped on to her screen.

A big red balloon entered her screen before it burst, revealing the words **_“CONGRATULATIONS!”_** in gold surrounded by confetti.

Fae frowned. She was sure that everyone knew about the equation so why was she getting these emails now?

 _Maybe he didn’t know,_ she thought to herself as she typed a quick thank you message to the sender. But as she went through the rest of the emails, Fae saw the names of colleagues who she was _definitely_ sure knew about her little achievement. _Why’re they congratulating me?_

It annoyed her slightly that no one wrote why they were congratulating. Even though she hated it, Fae made it a point to go to the lunch room to speak to her colleagues to find out.


	16. Lunch Time Discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I maybe a first year physics and aero/astro student in university, I don't really know how awards work. Let alone how the Nobel Prize nomination list works. All mistakes are my own and if anyone hates me for making such a blasphemous mistake, feel free to correct me in the comments. This is going to be a double update:D

For the first time in her life, Fae felt strange as she walked towards the lunch room. For one thing, students entering and exiting the building were looking at her- and not, in the _‘oh, that’s my professor- she solved the Yang-Mills equation, she did’_ or even in the _‘Maguire tried to prank her and ended up getting schooled big time’_ kind of way like they’d often look at her. No, students were looking as though she- as awkward and socially inadequate as she had always been- was a force to be reckoned with. As though she was as good as Dr. Keith Dickens or the Dean or something. And that unnerved her.

Had she won the De Morgen Medal already? She wondered. Surely, it couldn’t be. As far as she was concerned, Dr Dickens had only just sent her nomination on Friday.

Something was up, Fae decided. And she didn’t like it. At all.

Soon enough, the lunch room came into view. It took every fiber in her being to stop herself from running towards it and demanding answers from her colleagues.

I need to stay calm, she told herself. Calm and collected. It’s probably the De Morgen Medal. Yup, that’s probably it.

But deep down, she knew that it wasn’t.

When she finally arrived in the lunch room, her colleagues who had been busy talking amongst themselves stopped and slowly, one by one, they began clapping.

Fae raised a brow. “What’s happened?” she asked them.

“You mean you don’t know?” Harry questioned her.

“Uhh…no?” she offered.

“Honestly Fae, did you seriously not check the list?” assistant professor, Ronald Smith inquired.

“Why, the Nobel Prize list!” Dr. Dickens had joined them.

Fae’s eyes widened. “No way.”

“Yes,” he told her, “you’ve been nominated. For Physics. Are you happy now?”

Fae covered her mouth with her hands to keep herself from screaming. “You are kidding me? How?”

“Well, something to do with its application for Quantum mechanics,” he informed her, “say, aren’t you a string theorist?”

Fae nodded. “Only because it’s always had better applications.”

The man grinned and offered her a drink. Fae accepted it and gulped down most of it in one swing. He raised a brow but other than that said nothing. She smiled sheepishly before saying, “Ahh, I needed that.”  

Dr. Dickens laughed. “I’m afraid this is the beginning Faith,” he said.

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“Imagine if you actually win this thing,” Harry exclaimed. “That’ll be so cool.”

“Yeah right,” she said.

He frowned. “You don’t think you’ll win?”

“I’m sure the people on that list are better,” she stated as a matter of factly.

Harry pulled out his phone and showed her the list.

“I’m definitely not winning,” she said after reading who was on it.

“But you could!” he argued.

“Please, they’ve got the whole teams on it,” she said, “and I’m one individual. They’re definitely winning.”

Dr. Dickens grinned. “I don’t quite believe that,” he said confidently. “See the Stanford team’s proving the probability equations they’ve been working on, those two gents from Princeton are linking geometry with plasma physics. I think you fit in quite well with this group.”

“Well, you’re biased,” she quipped, “my equation’s more mathematical. I don’t think it’ll get me a Nobel Prize in Physics. De Morgen? Yes, speaking of which- have you heard back from them?”

“No,” he answered, “but everyone’s quite interested in that equation of yours.”

“Heh.”

“Those equations hadn’t been solved in fifty years and then you and the other guy came along,” he said, “solving equations that we thought wouldn’t be solved. I’m honestly expecting someone else doing it in 2020 too.”

“Well, some of us are just lucky I guess,” she said.

“Or they’re just geniuses,” Harry scoffed and Fae scrunched her nose in thought.

“Or just lucky.”

“Or just geniuses who think they’re lucky.”

“Or just lucky but people think they’re geniuses.”

“Aww, come on Fae,” he insisted, “you do know that your approach has never been done before right?”

She blinked. “What? Are you serious? I literally picked that up from my general relativity class.”

“See, that’s genius,” he said. “No one thought of it because it’s too simple. You did.”

“Okay, then everyone’s an idiot. That doesn’t make me a genius, that just makes me someone who’s not an idiot,” she stated.

“So you do admit it!” Harry grinned.

“What? No!”

“Oh no, it’s fine. I’ll take it.”

Fae glared at him.


	17. Disaster Strikes

After what could be characterized as the longest lunch in her entire academic career (school years and professional years combined), Fae slowly made her way back to her office. Thank goodness classes were underway so no pesky students were out staring at her like she was some genius (which she clearly wasn’t) so that wasn’t an issue.

It confused her.

Was the Nobel Prize committee crazy?

The people on the nomination list were from top notch universities around the world. How could she- a normal tier university professor- make that list?

It didn’t make sense.

She wanted to think that it was some mistake but they would’ve retracted it by if it was. Maybe they would see it in a while and realize their mistake?

Yeah, that seemed probable.

Fae stopped short. What the fuck was she thinking? This was _the Nobel Prize committee_ she was talking about! They’d never make such a mistake!

What was wrong with her?

She was overwhelmed, she realized, finally entering her office.

Never in her entire life had she ever thought that she could do something to get a Nobel Prize. It just didn’t happen. It didn’t fit. She had a very organized, boring schedule where she would go to work, come back home and write her book. That’s it. Sometimes, she’d go to the Peak district with her colleagues. Last weekend had been the most happening weekend of her life when Benedict had taken her on a tour of Manchester and then they’d returned to enjoy the nightlife at Sheffield.

That wouldn’t happen again, she reckoned, for a couple of weeks. Maybe he’d return, maybe he’d forget. She didn’t know. He had said that he would return so maybe that was something?

She had long since accepted that her and Ben’s relationship would be a rollercoaster of a romance while it lasted. And for some reason, against her better judgment, she accepted it. Fae didn’t know why she did accept it. Maybe she was looking for some fun out of her mundane schedule?

But then, this Nobel Prize thing would end that in the coming months, she guessed. Because win it (which she HIGHLY doubted) or lose it, she would forever be known as a Nobel Laureate. And that came with a lot of press, a lot of conferences, lectures, TED talks and what not.

So she was pretty confused about her acceptance with being the side chick. She was breaking her moral code for the man and wondered why she was doing it. A glimmer of doubt came into her mind and Fae shrugged it away immediately. She couldn’t be in love- she just couldn’t. That’s not how it worked and Fae, of all the people, knew that there was no such thing as love at first sight.

So what was it? She wondered.

“I can’t get any work done today,” she said aloud in frustration.

Shelby, her assistant, seemed to agree with her. “True,” she agreed, making her way up to her. “So what kept ya for so long?” she asked.

Fae sighed. Putting it into words would make it even weirder. “I’ve been nominated for a Nobel Prize,” she informed her.

Shelby’s eyes widened. “WOAH,” she exclaimed, “Congrats, Doc! Why do you look so done with it?”

“I can’t win a Nobel Prize can I?” she asked.

“Well, you’re smart. You can,” Shelby answered.

“That’s not how it works,” she stated and she sighed.

“Whatever you say, doc,” she said.

Fae gave Shelby a curt nod and made her way to her office to phone Sara. Perhaps she would be more insightful then everyone around her. Strangely enough, she didn’t pick up. Fae tried for a full twenty minute and it was only when Shelby came in to tell her that it was five and that she’d be leaving since Fae _had_ said that she wasn’t getting any work done anyway. Fae waved good bye and dialed a different number.

Ben.

She reckoned that she was being silly by calling Sara. She’d probably get all excited about it and tell her morbid family about it and there was no way in hell that Fae wanted her family to know about this. The only person who’d meet this situation with a realistic point of view was Ben.

Strangely enough, he didn’t answer either.

Fae texted him to call her, grabbed her things and made her way out of her office. She reckoned that if this thing was real, then she ought to treat herself.

But the question remained: should she cook or order take out?

Fae chose the former.

It would keep her mind off things.

And Fae was quite baffled as of lately.

How could she…?

Then again, she told herself, did Richard Feynman ever think that he’d win a Nobel Prize? Well, he probably knew that he’d win it but that wasn’t the point.

The point was that she was no Richard Feynman. She was just one of those countless physicists who dreamt that they’d win a Nobel Prize but in reality, no such thing would ever happen to them. Fae was sure of it. She had no qualms about her reality. After all, wasn’t it she who got a C in Physics in her A Levels?

The only reason she even made it to Cambridge was because she’d been involved with so many research programs that everyone knew that something had gone wrong on the day of the exam (it had. Her parents had locked her out the night before because she had missed her curfew by a minute and she hadn’t had sleep the entire night) to ensure such a grade. And her Math and Further Math grades. Fae was a proud A grade student with distinctions in those two. Still, she had a bad grade in Physics. Surely that would mean that she couldn’t get a Nobel Prize right?

Her phone rang just as she entered the grocer’s. It was her old professor from Cambridge.

“Faith Chambers!”  Professor Arnold Hendricks (and yes, he’d forever stay that because she never really got to graduate) exclaimed from the other end. “I just heard the news! What did you do?!” Followed by a round of applause. Fae realized that she was on speaker.

“What did I do?” she asked playing the fool as she skimmed through the aisles, thinking about dinner.

“Don’t play the fool young lady,” Professor Jack Dennis- who’d taught her general relativity- said, “Nobel Prize?! Why did you have to leave Cambridge? I’m taking credit for teaching you relativity, okay?”

Fae grinned. “Alright I know,” she admitted, “apparently I was the last one in my entire university to find out.”

“Well, we knew before you. We were waiting for five,” Professor Angela Martin- her electromagnetism professor- said. “Are you still at work?”

“No, I was going home,” she said, “is everyone there?”

“We sure are, kid.” It was Dr. Alfred James, her advisor.

“Wow, thank you so much!” she said. “For calling me! I wasn’t really expecting much. I mean, it’s just a nomination.”

“It’s just a nomination, she says!” he exclaimed causing all of her teachers to laugh. “I’m going to quote you on that once you get that award. How’s the book coming along dear?”

“It’s fine,” she said, “I think I’ll be done with it in a few months. I’ll send you all a copy?”

A chorus of “sure”, “you better” and “I’d be delighted to” broke out but Fae wasn’t really paying attention anymore. Her attention was focused on the magazine stands.

“Well, I look forward to hearing your criticism,” she said, her eyes glued on the stand as she slowly walked up to it.

“We’ll do our best,” Professor Hendricks said, “get back home safe, yes?”

“Of course. Good bye?”

“Yes, bye! And congratulations!”

“Thanks!”

She hung up. Her stomach felt as though it had just dropped off a cliff or something, her heart beat accelerated and there was an awful roaring sensation in her ears. Fae picked up the magazine with shaky hands and read the front page.

**_BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH CAUGHT CHEATING ON WIFE._ **

Followed by perfectly clear pictures of them in the café they visited in Manchester, the restaurant she took him to in Sheffield and the park near her flat. Fae couldn’t believe her eyes _. They’d been seen._


	18. Damage Control

“Divorce Sophie this instant!” Karon hissed as she slammed the paper in front of him. “What were you thinking? Are you out of your mind? How can I fix _this_? Who is this girl?”

Benedict rubbed his forehead in frustration. “How did they even get this?” he asked her. “I thought you couldn’t publish pictures without con-”

“Some random photographer took these photos,” she informed him, “sold it to this magazine which is American and now we have pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch cheating on his wife on magazines on both sides of the pond! Who is she?”

“She’s George and Desi’s sister,” he told her.

“George and Desi _Chambers?”_

“Yes.”

Karon was silent for a moment. “This isn’t Pam,” she stated.

“They have another sister,” Ben explained, “Desi’s twin. Fae.”

“Fae?”

“As in Faith. She’s not into acting or singing or modeling. She’s a physicist at the University of Sheffield.”

“She’s a professor?” she inquired.

“Essentially yes,” he agreed.

“How on earth did you even meet her?” she asked.

“I met her at Pam’s wedding,” he told her, “she lives up north so she doesn’t really keep in touch with things. She’s not on good terms with her family.”

“So she’s a black sheep?”

“That’s what she calls herself.”

“I’m going to talk to the rest of the team,” Karon said, “I don’t know what I can do about this.”

“Don’t do anything,” Ben said, “tell them she’s a friend or something. I don’t want her in the limelight. She’d hate that.”

“Well you should’ve thought about it,” she stated, before opening one of the magazines to reveal a picture of them kissing in the park. “This isn’t a friend, Ben. This is something more and this bad for you. You have a wife and a child. This will destroy you!”

“I thought I could be with whoever I wanted-”

“As long as the press didn’t find out which they did!” she reminded him. “You will end this.”

Benedict shook his head. “I won’t,” he stated, “I’ve been happiest for the first time in a long time and I’m not breaking up with Fae because of my career obligations.”

“You will never get another acting job in your life,” she insisted, “if we don’t deal with this immediately.”

“A lot of actors get caught cheat-”

“A lot of A List actors get caught cheating Ben,” she told him, “and they’re household names. You’re still a rising star. You can’t afford this. You’re not a household name yet. This could ruin the Marvel deal. What should I do?”

“Nothing,” a new voice interrupted them. Benedict turned to find Jacob Murrey, head of PR at Marvel, walk into Karon’s office. “We’re not going to fire Mr. Cumberbatch,” he stated, “We’ve invested too much. We do want you to divorce Miss Turner and let us speak to Dr. Chambers. We’re doing damage control.”

Benedict gulped. Something told him things were about to get so much worse.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Fae didn’t want to leave her house. Somehow- and she’d strangle them when she found out how- someone had found out where she lived and now an entire army of photographers were camped out outside her apartment. Security had made them stay off the premises but that wouldn’t stop them from following her to work.

Fae groaned. How she wished she owned a car right now.

She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want pictures of herself taken. She didn’t want the stupid paps to be waiting for her outside her apartment complex. How the _hell_ had they managed to find out where she lived???

Her phone rang and Fae checked the caller ID. Even though she had ignored Benedict’s calls since last night, she realized that she needed to speak to him in order to get out of her apartment. She had an eleven o’clock lecture which she couldn’t miss! So taking a deep breath in order to calm herself, she answered the phone.

“What is it?” she asked curtly.

 _“Fae, thank god!”_ Ben exclaimed. _“Are you alright?”_

“I’m stuck in my apartment,” she said, “I need to go to work. Why are they here at eight thirty?”

_“Well, err- I see…”_

“Benedict, get them out of here.”

_“I can’t really get the press to leave.”_

“You have a PR team. Do something.”

 _“I- umm…”_ He handed the phone to someone else.

 _“Hello, is this Dr. Faith Chambers speaking?”_ the new voice spoke. _“I’m Jacob Murrey, head of PR at Marvel.”_

Fae rolled her eyes. “Am I supposed to be impressed?” she asked. “Can you get me out of here? I need to give a lecture. I can’t stay holed up in here for days.”

 _“There’s not much we can do from London,”_ he admitted, _“however you can take an umbrella or something to shield yourself. Maybe sunglasses? Don’t answer them and keep walking. They’ll go away.”_

“I’m not walking out of my house with a bunch of pesky photographers wanting a picture of me,” she said, “I can’t deal with this. I didn’t sign up for this.”

 _“With all due respect,” Murrey_ said, _“but the minute you started seeing Mr. Cumberbatch, you signed up for this. I’m assuming you knew about his situation.”_

Fae groaned. “How’d they find out anyway?”

 _“Some anonymous freelance photographer_ ,” he stated, _“did you see any photographers when you were out with Mr. Cumberbatch?”_

“No,” she said, “they must’ve used a phone or something. Have you seen the picture quality of the new iPhone? It’s as good as a camera.”

 _“True,”_ Murrey agreed _, “if you could please do as I said right now to make due, I’ll make sure they don’t bother you from tomorrow onwards. I’ll be in Sheffield in a few to deal with this.”_

“You will?”

_“Yes, I will. Is that fine?”_

Fae blinked. “I guess…” she agreed. “So you’re saying that they won’t bother me no more?”

_“Yes.”_

“Okay I’m in. Is there anything else I should know?”

 _“Yes,”_ he said, _“have someone with you in case it gets overwhelming. And trust me, it’s very overwhelming the first time.”_


	19. Playing Publicist

Shelby Andrews was surprised.

Make that, _very_ surprised.

That last thing she expected as she quickly got ready for college was to receive a text message from Doc C (her pet name for Fae) first thing in the morning. At first, she didn’t read it right (her hungover brain thought that it said, _Come by right now.)_ and groaned, mumbling something about over efficient physicists who showed up at work at 6 but when she got a call from said professor, she knew that something was up.

 _“Can you come by my apartment?”_ Faith was asking.

“You mean you’re not at work?” Shelby blurted, relieved because that meant that she wasn’t terribly late (which she already was because it eight thirty and her reporting time was eight).

_“No, why would you even think that?”_

“Eh, just assumed.”

 _“Alright, can you please come by my apartment?”_ she repeated her requested. _“I’ll text you the address.”_

“Sure,” Shelby perked up at the chance of seeing her apartment. She’d always been curious about the place Faith lived in. Was it close to university? Was it a nice? She heard that the Chambers were _loaded…_

 _“Alright thanks,”_ said Fae, _“Also, try not to talk to the reporters.”_

“Reporters?” she asked.

_“You mean you don’t know?”_

“What?”

_“Check that website of yours this instance!”_

“You mean Tumblr?”

_“Yes!”_

“Alright, I’ll check it. Be there in twenty?”

_“Okay, bye- bye.”_

Shelby thought that her professor was being weird. She quickly hopped into a clean pair of jeans and t-shirt and made breakfast. She took a sip of her morning tea as she opened the Tumblr app on her mobile to see what had happened.

What she saw almost made her choke on her drink.

“No way,” she gasped, scrolling quickly through her dashboard. She quickly made it to the online magazine articles that were linked and read them before checking Twitter and even Google searched the entire scandal.

As she read article after article and post after post on Tumblr, a smile slowly made its way onto her face. By the time she was done with her breakfast and ready to go to Fae’s, she was grinning like a mad woman.

 _Professor has no idea what’s happened_ , she thought gleefully.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

“You’re late!” Fae hissed as Shelby entered her apartment.

“I came as quickly as I could,” she replied, “what with the news I was reading.”

Fae shook her head as if to say “expected.”

Shelby looked around. “Cool place,” she commented looking around. Unlike her office, Fae’s house was immaculate. Sure it was small but it was bigger than most professors’ flats. Her living room/ dining room looked cozy enough and her kitchen, separated from the room with only an island- counter hybrid (at least that’s what Shelby thought it was called), was pretty neat too. Fae’s tastes were straight out of the early twentieth century and her flat with its bookshelves and wooden paneling conveyed that taste perfectly.

 _I was right. She is loaded_ , Shelby thought before deciding that when she became a professor she’d get a flat like this one too even if she had to go into debt for it.

“Thanks,” Fae said wearing her suit jacket.

“Do you want me to play publicist?” Shelby asked her excitedly.

“Play what?”

“You know, those people who clear the path for celebrities and shit,” she told her.

“I’m pretty sure they’re not publicists Shelby,” Fae informed her.

“It doesn’t matter what they are,” Shelby told her, “can I usher them away or something?”

“Yeah,” she said after thinking for a moment, “just don’t give them any answers for the questions they’re asking and we should be good.”

“Done.” Then, “Professor, you didn’t tell me that you had Benedict Cumberbatch all to yourself for the weekend. I could’ve gotten a picture with him!”

Fae blushed. “Err, about that…” she said sheepishly. “No one was supposed to find out.”

Shelby grinned, pulling out her phone. “It’s okay,” she said, showing her the posts she’d saved. “Tumblr loves you,” she added.

Fae frowned, reading the posts that various people were reblogging (a few thousand times it seemed) about who she was, what those pictures meant and how it changed the game. Overall, a lot of people were excited about the PR theory being true even though people hadn’t expected Benedict to actually have a girlfriend amidst all of this. A fraction of people seem to dislike her but Shelby brushed them aside.

“We call them ‘nans’,” she told her, “they think Benedict’s a unicorn prince who can do no wrong.”

Fae snickered. “ _Unicorn prince?_ Psssh. Trust me, he can wreck everything which he’s done.”

“Yeah I know,” Shelby agreed.

The two stood near the entrance of her apartment for a good fifteen minutes, reading comments and what not before Fae remembered her priorities (thanks to a call from the Uber driver she’d asked for) and grabbed her briefcase.

“We’ve got places to be,” she said. Shelby groaned. “We’ll read up more on this when we get to work,” she promised and Shelby grinned.

“Yeah! Let’s go,” she exclaimed, “it’s show time!”

The two made their way down the staircase (the elevator was too quick, they decided) with Shelby leading the way.

“I’ll clear a path for you,” she told her and Faith nodded, taking a deep breath.

When they left the apartment complex and got to the gates, Fae noticed the crowd of photographers. They went wild when they saw her. Her pace faltered, and Shelby noticed that.

“C’mon,” she encouraged, “you can do this!”

Fae nodded uncertainly and followed her, making her way towards the crowd.

“Alright, show’s over,” Shelby declared, waving what looked like her Philosophy homework (Fae could tell by the orange binder. Shelby color coded her class works) as though it were a stick. It worked and the photographers parted ways. “Genius physicist coming through! Move away!”

Fae walked through the crowd, wearing sunglasses as the Marvel guy had suggested and kept her head down.

_“Faith Chambers, are you related to George Chambers?”_

_“Faith, are you and Benedict dating?”_

_“Did you know that he had a wife?”_

_“How do you feel about being his mistress?”_

_“Did you agree to be his mistress?”_

_“Have you met Kit?”_

She didn’t say a word, allowing Shelby to prattle on as they made their way to the Uber, it was only when she’d gotten inside the vehicle that she took a breath.  Outside, her assistant wasn’t done.

“She doesn’t have time for you losers,” Shelby told them before hoping into the car, “she’s a Nobel Prize nominee and she’s got better things to do than answer your stupid questions.”

The reporters went even crazier after that announcement but the car sped off at that moment.

“You crazy person!” Fae gasped. “Why’d you tell them that?”

“They were making you sound like some stupid bimbo,” Shelby answered haughtily, “I couldn’t stand and hear a bunch of lowlifes talk down the greatest physicist I’ve ever met.”

Fae smiled a little at that. “Aww, I didn’t know you felt that way,” she said.

Shelby grinned. “Well I do,” she said sincerely. “Besides,” she added, “Tumblr needed to know that.”

Fae shook her head knowingly. “Of course they did,” she agreed sarcastically.


	20. Jacob Murrey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting uni this week! *cue celebratory fireworks and stuff* I'm not sure if I'll be able to update for the next three weeks so I did a triple- or even quadruple if I'm done with the next chapter before tomorrow- update. Have fun! Things are about to get interesting:D

The situation didn’t change much at the University. There were quite a few photographers were waiting for her there too.

“I’m never going to get used to this,” Fae announced as they got out of the car and quickly walked into the building.

“Really?” Shelby asked. “This is going to become your life you know.”

Fae frowned. “Huh?”

“Ben’s going to leave Sophie isn’t he?” she whispered even though the photographers were behind them (they couldn’t enter University grounds) by now.

“I don’t know,” she said, “We haven’t talked about it.”

“But- like, something’s gonna happen?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“I think he’ll have to leave her,” Shelby told her, “because at this point, the deal’s almost non- existent, right? Because he broke it.”

“He told me that he was allowed to be in a relationship with anyone as long as the press didn’t find out,” Fae admitted, “apparently Sophie was too. But now?! Time will tell honestly.”

“So that’s who she was with!” Shelby exclaimed.

“What?”

“Yeah, a bunch of people in the fandom found pictures of her walking around with this other dude but no one could confirm it because you know, she’s quite unknown and no pap follows her.”

“Well, that makes me feel so much better,” Fae stated.

“That they’re cheating on each other?”

“Yes, I felt horrible at first,” she admitted, “I didn’t even want him to stay when he showed up because of his wife. But apparently he was telling the truth when he said that they weren’t really a couple.”

They entered her office and Fae made her way to her office room.

“So you kicked him out initially?” Shelby asked her.

“Yes, of course,” Fae answered, setting her suitcase down on her desk.

“Ah, what changed your mind?”

“The cheeky bastard claimed that there was no flight till Monday,” she said, “and that he’d have to stay or else someone would notice him.”

“So how’d you guys go to Manchester?”

“I was giving my chapters for revision to a friend there,” she replied, “and well, I felt bad for being mean to him because he cooked breakfast and everything for me.” She paused for a moment before saying, “Gosh, he’s quite good at it.”

“Good at what?”

“He’s quite the charmer,” she exclaimed, “I was being mean by kicking him out, I was within my rights do to so. My, he’s good.”

Shelby giggled. “Yeah, we reckoned he’s like that,” she agreed, “gets what he wants and all.”

Fae thought for a moment. “Tell me what else you think about him,” she said.

Shelby sat on the chair in front of her desk. “You want to know what we think about him or what the nans think about him?”

“You guys,” she said, pulling out a pen and paper to make a list.

“Okay, let’s see,” Shelby started, “we think he’s kind of pretentious. He’s privileged and he lives in a bubble. He’s arrogant and I’m not sure if that’s sexy all the time.”

Fae frowned. “What?”

“Arrogant men can be sexy,” Shelby insisted, “but not if they’re stuck up all the time.”

“I’ve never liked arrogant men,” Faith told her.

“It’s alright,” she said, “I think you’re the one who can get Benedict’s head out of his arse. He’s got quite the ego.”

Fae made a face. “He’s never been like this with me,” she admitted, “I thought he was quite down to earth.”

“He’s probably different with the people he cares about,” Shelby agreed, “but this is how we see him. It’s like he’s a different person. He wasn’t like this before. He’s changed.”

“It’s probably the PR thing,” Fae said and she nodded in agreement.

“Yeah,” she began but a knock on the door stopped her.

“Come in,” Fae called after exchanging glances with Shelby.

In walked a handsome, tall man holding onto his sunglasses as though he’d just taken them off. “Hey,” he said, looking at Faith. “I’m Jacob Murrey, head of PR at Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

Shelby’s eyes widened in awe. “Oh my god,” she mumbled causing him to look at her.

“I saw you on TMZ in the morning,” he told her, “good job.” Then he turned to Fae. “We have work to do.”


	21. PR Thing

"So what is it that we're supposed to do?" Fae asked him once she'd shooed Shelby, who was positively shell shocked, out of her office.

"For starters," Jacob said, "tell me how'd you meet Ben."

"I met at my sister, Pam's bachelorette party," she said, "my friend, Sara-"

"Sara Powell?"

"Yeah, her. We're friends," Fae elaborated before continuing, "so Sara invited Ben and a few people to the party in hopes of setting us up."

"Sara didn't know that Ben was married?"

"Apparently, she was visiting me at the time so she didn't really know," she confirmed, "though how she missed  _that_  detail, I don't know."

Jacob was looking at something on his iPad. "No that's likely because the Cumberbatches were in America the entire time," he said, "it's a strange coincidence but it's probable. Continue."

"Yeah so we hit it off. Exchanged numbers and then I saw him at the wedding where I met Sophie."

"Ouch."

"I felt the same way. So I came back earlier because I was angry at him for cheating on his wife. I didn't know that it was a PR relationship at that point and I didn't see him for a good three days until he showed up here on Thursday."

"Huh? Alright, what did you do then?"

"I kicked him out but when I got home, I found him camping outside my door because he didn't have a place to go so I took him in but the next morning he told me that there were no flights until Monday."

"He lied," Jacob interjected.

Fae frowned. "What?"

"He lied about the flights. There were three flights and none of them were full. See." He showed her the travel details on his iPad. Fae didn't show it but she was quite mad at that.  _Fucking asshole!_  She glowered internally.  _He did that on purpose!_

"Well," was all she said, "would you look at that."

"What happened after that?" Jacob asked.

"Nothing. He managed to convince me to go out to celebrate with him on Friday," she said, "since I solved the Yang-Mills equation which is a big deal apparently."

"Really, how so?"

"I've been nominated for a Nobel Prize among other things."

"Hmm, congratulations."

"Thanks."

"And then I believe that's how you spent the rest of the weekend?" Jacob asked. "You went to Manchester on a date…?"

"No, I'm working on a book," she told him, "I had to give a few chapters to a colleague there for revision."

"Oh, so he wooed you in Manchester?"

"Yes, that's  _basically_  what happened."

"And you decided to give him a chance."

"…Yes."

Jacob put the iPad away. "Huh, seems simple enough," he said, "you two were out on a date and someone secretly took pictures of you. That's not complicated. I've had worse."

"You have?" Fae was confused. It seemed pretty bad to her.

"Yes," he informed her standing up, "I once had to convince the media that a client wasn't a sex addict even though there were multiple sex tapes, sightings and charges against them."

"Did you pull it off?"

"Yes, I did," he said. "I need time to clean up this mess. Ummm… I'll get in touch with a few people and the paps won't bother you anymore. I guess that's all for now."

Fae nodded. "What's going to happen now?" she asked him.

"Well, you'll have to decide if you want to stay with Benedict," he said, "because that'll be vital to the narrative we're going to try to make. I don't know the story yet but you'll have to wait and see. Good bye."

With that, he walked out. The moment he left, Shelby was back in her office.

"Well?"

"Benedict lied to me," Fae told her.

"What?"

"There were flights back to London," she said.

Shelby gawked. "So he wanted to stay with you!" she exclaimed. "That's romantic and weird at the same time."

Fae shook her head. "Honestly it's more weird than romantic," she complained, "our entire relationship was built on the premise that he was stuck in Sheffield. He lied to me. I don't know how I feel about that yet."

"I think you should be a bit mean," Shelby said and Fae raised a brow questioningly. "Like, keep him on his toes. I mean don't let him think that you've got his back in case shit blows up. It is  _his_  fault that the press know, you know."

She nodded, "I thought so too. Let's see what happens."

Her phone rang and Fae saw the caller ID.

"It's Sara," she said, "off you go now."

Shelby groaned but left nonetheless.

Fae answered the call. "Hello?"

" _You're winning a Nobel Prize?!"_

"Caught that one did you? No, I've been nominated for one."

" _And I've been nominated for an Oscar once, did you know that?"_

"What?"

" _Same thing Fae,"_  Sara said,  _"and that's big news. Do you want me to come to Sheffield to celebrate?"_

"Nah, it's okay," she replied, "I mean, it's just a nomination."

" _Only you would say that,"_  Sara went on,  _"seriously though. How does one win a Nobel Prize?"_

Fae rubbed her face thinking. That was a good question. How  _does_  one win a Nobel Prize?

"Ummm… remember that Math problem I was solving when I spoke to you last? Yeah, well, turns out one of my students was pranking me and it was actually the Yang-Mills equation which up until now had been one of the few unsolvable math questions."

" _Really?"_

"Yeah, I solved it and I've been nominated. I'm quite confused to be honest."

" _Only you would be nominated for a Nobel Prize and be confused about it Fae."_

"True," she admitted, "I didn't want people to know about it unless. You know, something happens."

" _The girl with you didn't think much about that,"_ Sara chuckled.

"Yeah," Fae agreed, "it's not just her. Everyone's making a big deal about it and for the life of me, I don't understand why. It's not like I've won the thing."

" _It's a pretty big deal,"_  Sara said,  _"No matter what you say. Your mum said that."_

Fae's smile faltered. "Wh-what?"

" _Yeah, I was with her when I saw the TMZ footage. We workout at the same gym,"_  she told her,  _"your mum was surprised and called your dad. Why? Didn't you want that?"_

Fae gulped. "I don't know," she admitted, "I just don't feel so well all of a sudden."

" _C'mon Fae, it's been ten years…"_  Sara began.  _"Can't you let it go? She's your mother."_

"She's never behaved that way," she grumbled. "Listen, I've got to go."

" _Why don't you ever talk about it?"_  she asked.

"I'll talk about it later."

" _When? This is the four hundredth time I've asked you."_

Fae pretended not to hear her. "Good bye."

Sara sighed before bidding her good bye and then she hung up.

Fae allowed herself to rest her head on her desk, groaning _. Why did her mother- of all the people- have to find out?_


	22. Older Brother

True to his words, Jacob Murrey had somehow managed to get any and all photographers stalking her to stay away from her or, in public places, be at least two meters away from her. While Fae  _did_  mind having to deal with them in public, Murrey convinced her that there was nothing he could do about seeing them in public since they could easily claim that they weren't in fact stalking her.

So Fae endured. She got used to the constant click of a camera as she went about her day returning to and fro work each day, or stopping by the grocer's or something. Thankfully, they couldn't follow her into the swim club she was a member of and so Faith found herself swimming more and more as time went by. Swimming had always been her way of letting out that pent up frustration and now, with the constant press following her from afar, it only seemed right.

It had been a week since the entire ordeal began and Fae was returning home from swimming one day when she came across a rare picture of herself and her siblings on the front page of a well known magazine.

Fae paused at the magazine stand, taking it in. It was an old picture; taken just before she had cut her hair short. All five Chambers children were present. Desi was sitting on the large armchair that had been in her father's study for as long as she could remember with Pam- only seven at the time- on her lap. Behind her, stood Faith between her two elder brothers, George and Edward, looking quite small between the two of them but then, the men in her family were definitely always well over six feet.

Fae smiled, picking up the magazine. She hadn't seen this picture for the longest time. Her mother never put up any pictures with Edward around their house. Of course, since Fae was often in the pictures Edward was in, there weren't many pictures of her in their family home either. Not that she minded. Fae had long since decided that she didn't want to belong in a family that did not include her eldest brother.

_Speaking of Edward-_

Fae quickly bought the magazine, not reading the title, and stuffed it into her gym bag. Then, as she walked on, she pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

"Eddie!" she greeted her eldest brother the moment he picked up in a shrill, childish voice which she only reserved for him. While the rest of her family was not in touch with him, the minute she'd left home, Fae had made it a point to look up her eldest brother.

" _Uh…Faith?!"_

"Don't tell me you didn't recognize me!"

" _No no, it's just- when was the last time we spoke?"_

"I don't know. Maybe a few weeks ago?" she wondered aloud, "I tried to convince you to attend Pam's wedding, remember?"

" _Oh yeah. Well, how'd it go?"_

"What?"

" _The wedding."_

"It was fine," she said, "a touch too glamourous if you ask me."

" _Why'd you think I'm asking?"_  her brother asked her cheekily and Fae giggled.

"True. I didn't attend most of it," she told him.

" _Hmmm… why?"_

"Because I met someone."

" _So am I supposed to beat someone up now?"_

"Not really, not yet."

" _Not yet?"_

"Well, he's famous."

Edward groaned.  _"There are millions of people in this world who aren't famous and you_ _ **had**_ _to find the one who was."_

"Well, in my defense, I didn't know he was until much later."

" _Really? How later?"_

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him all about the PR marriage but then stopped. If this thing with Ben was to get serious- and she had a feeling that it would- then Eddie would definitely be meeting Ben and she didn't want any brawl to break out. So instead, she said, "Until I met his publicist."

" _Really?"_

"Yeah."

" _Well, aren't you a silly one,"_  he teased her.

"I'm not silly," she insisted. She'd come to her apartment complex by now and shifted her phone to her left hand, balancing it on her shoulder as she opened the door to her flat.

" _You don't know a celebrity when you see one_ ," he stated.

"Well, I am a physicist."

" _And I'm a biologist."_

"What's your point?"

" _I have more lab work to do."_

"It's not my fault," she argued, "besides he's quite nice. You'll like him."

" _What's his name?"_

"Ben."

" _Last name?"_

"I won't have you stalk him."

" _Aww, fine. Whatever. Is there any other reason you called?"_

"Have you checked the Nobel Prize nomination list yet?" she asked him.

" _No, why?"_

"No reason," she said even though she was dying to tell him all about it. Fae reckoned that a little mystery would do her brother good.

" _Fae…"_  he said stressing on the last syllable of her name.  _"Is there something that you have to tell me?"_

"No…" she replied, imitating him.

" _Okay, then I have to go,"_  he said, ending the fun,  _"I've got cultures to study. Bye."_

"Bye! Don't forget to check the nominations!" she said on purpose.

" _Wait, what? Why-"_  But she hung up before he could complete his sentence. If anything, the mystery or discovery of her name- if he actually checked the list- would have him call her sooner than later.

She hummed as she pulled out the magazine, intent on reading about the picture. Only this time she read the headline:  _ **Fae of the Family: The Chambers dish out details about Benedict Cumberbatch's newest love.**_

Fae saw red.


	23. Stunt

Fae couldn't believe it.

Her entire family- minus her dad and Edward- had given a four page interview, with pictures and all, to some magazine! And not just any interview- a PR damage control interview, from the looks of it. There were fabrications, so many extravagantly elaborated fabrications that made her feel sick. Her mother spoke about how upon noticing that she didn't possess the talents of her other siblings in the arts, Fae'd turned to the sciences-  _to stand out,_  she'd added, explaining why she chose to dye her hair the darkest shade she could find to look different from the rest of her fair haired family.

 _Fae always wanted to be different,_ Eliza said in the interview _, even now when she's a grown adult, she tries to do the same. After all, she was very competitive._

Fae scrunched up her nose at that. She wasn't competitive. And what would  _she_  know of her personality? Fae wasn't competitive. Well, she was but she didn't give a rat's arse about her family to be competitive with them. She was only competitive in sports. Fae hated losing. Not that her mother would know. She was just appalled that Fae got into the U16's for swimming and not gymnasts like Desi.

She remembered the day well. It almost made her smile remembering the look of horror on her mother's face.  _Almost_.

But that was not all.

Her mother had even addressed her expulsion. Why she would bring that up, Fae didn't know. No one knew about it most days unless Fae herself let people know. Why did her mother bring that up? It had been nearly twelve (in a few months) years ago. No one cared about some expulsion.

… _.Did they?_

Fae shook her head. Why would she care about what people said anyway? She'd talk to Murrey about this. Yeah, he'd know what to do. Inspite of the anger surging through her, Fae carried on reading.

What she read truly disgusted her.

 _Well, it was a sickness- severe migraine and depression,_  to be precise, her mother spoke of the reason behind her expulsion,  _which came from Edward's flight from the family_  (her mother never really missed a chance to blame Eddie for something, Fae noted) a _nd that she had specifically withdrawn from Cambridge. Not expelled. That was just a rumor because of how well Fae'd been doing there_  (that was true; she  _had_  been attending special classes at Cambridge even with her horrible Physics grade).

Fae didn't know what had possessed her mother to give her such a backhanded compliment. Whatever was wrong with just saying that she was doing well at Sheffield? Did she not know which university she went to afterwards?

Fae thought for a moment before sighing in defeat. Knowing Eliza, she probably didn't. It used to upset her but Fae had gotten over her mother a long time ago.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

Her mother had actually pretended to be the good guy in all of it. She talked about always reaching out to Fae, always being there for her which was an outright lie because her mother didn't even believe she had a problem until she got expelled from school. Fae was beyond enraged.

Her mother had never been there for her or Eddie, for the matter. The woman had hated her two children- the ones who didn't take after the stereotype of the name "Chambers". The ones who preferred science to poetry, debate to acting and math to literature. It had started from a young age. Fae never liked the ballet classes that their mother made mandatory. Instead, she preferred to be with Edward who liked making songs about the periodic table.

Fae hated her mother for what she did to Edward. And her mother was wary of Fae turning out to be like Edward. She knew that deep down her mother blamed Edward for how Fae had turned out. After all, it was Edward who got her into science to begin with. She should've been at her French lessons between three and five o'clock- not with Edward learning his silly periodic table song.

Her mother was cruel, and Fae had accepted that a long time. But she'd crossed the line with the interview.

Fae didn't bother reading her siblings' parts. Knowing her mother, she'd probably edited their answers to fit her narrative. Fae wondered how her father coped with Eliza but then reckoned that he didn't. Michael had a lot of faults- complying by his wife's wishes was one of them. But then, it was more probable that he wouldn't know about it. Her father was married to his work first and  _then_  his wife. After all, one didn't simply win as many Oscars as her father did without being the observant, resourceful director that he was. He was often away doing research on the stories, cultures and legends featured in his films. Fae had reason to believe that he wasn't home at the moment. Otherwise he would've totally featured in the interview.

It sickened her to think that  _this_  was what she could call family. It amazed her how easy it was for her mother to make up lies and gloss over the details- the real, difficult reality that had been her life for eighteen years.

 _She doesn't want anything short of a fairy tale ending for me,_  she thought looking over the pictures once more. Her mother would want that. All the Chambers children had perfect lives. The ones who didn't were cast away- she and Edward were quite the living proofs of that.

But now Fae was in the spotlight and her mother would control the narrative. Only, Fae wasn't Edward. She wasn't going to go down without a fight. And so inspite of promising to herself that she wouldn't go anywhere near London for at least six months, Fae did just that.

She booked a flight to London.


	24. Of Cookies & Unexpected Guests

Sara was busy baking cookies with her daughter, Gemma, for the school bake sale when her front door bell rang. "Why don't you see who's at the door, Gem, while I get these in," she said to her daughter as she carefully moved the batch across the kitchen to put it in the oven.

"Kay," was all Gemma said and ran out of the kitchen. She's probably feeling hot, Sara thought, wiping the bead of sweat from her own forehead. They'd been baking for hours now and she hadn't turned on the fan at all because it made the cookie mixture harden. They'd already made four batches of twenty-five but they still had quite a few things to do. Gemma needed a hundred and twenty cookies for the bake sale. And they still had to make those red velvet cupcakes.

Sara put away some ingredients and took out vanilla essence, whipped cream, some food coloring and sprinkles.

"Might as well get started on the frosting," she told herself as she pulled out a big plastic bowl out of the cupboard.

" _EEEP!"_

Upon hearing Gemma's scream, Sara bolted out of the kitchen.

"Gemma!" she called, rushing towards the front door to find…

…to find her daughter, jumping into Fae's arms excited.

Sara frowned.  _What was she doing here?_

"Aunt Fae!" Gemma exclaimed, voicing Sara's thoughts. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm visiting," she answered.

"But you never visit," Gemma argued. "You didn't even come for my birthday!" She crossed her arms in disappointment. "I invited you too!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Fae looked embarrassed as she spoke, "I had stuff to do."

"Like what?"

"Research project. I couldn't say no."

"But I asked you first."

"I know but my boss asked me. I couldn't say no."

"Hmmph," Gemma turned her face away from Faith. "He's not  _that_  important. You should've said no."

"We'll see how you feel when  _you_  have a boss," Fae said. She looked towards Sara who gave her a look that said _, 'I thought you never wanted to come to London again, you drama queen.'_

She looked sheepish as she spoke, "I had to speak to my mum."

"You spoke to your mum?" Sara was shocked.

"Yeah, did you read the article?"

"What article?"

Fae gave her a look.

"Gemma, why don't you go play?" Sara said to her daughter. "Aunt Fae and I'll do the baking."

"Yeeeas!" the little girl exclaimed, hopping out of Fae's hold and skipped away.

Fae turned to the suitcase that lay forgotten beside her and pulled into the doorway before closing the door.

"I'll get someone to put in the guest room," Sara said, calling the housekeeper.

"It's fine, I'll do it," Faith insisted but Mrs. Brown was already there. Fae's face had gone scarlet as she thanked the old lady repeatedly. Sara smiled vaguely at that. Fae was very uncomfortable around any sort of house help. Something about classism and inequality but Sara argued that she was getting paid quite well for it so…

Of course, Fae being Fae didn't get that; giving the example of the nannies she and her siblings were brought up on, she spoke of how 'help'- Fae hated the word servant- were regularly exploited. But not today, Sara noticed as they went into the kitchen. Today, Fae was embarrassed but said nothing to her.

 _She has other things to occupy that brain of hers,_  Sara realized.

"So," she asked her, once they were inside, "what's up?"

Fae ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "My mother gave an exclusive interview to Daily Mirror-"

"-Daily Mail," Sara interjected.

"What?" Fae looked confused.

"It's called Daily Mail. There's no magazine called Daily Mirror," Sara retorted.

Fae sighed, looking heavenwards before continuing, "Whatever. Anyway, she- and my siblings,  _god I'm going to kill them when I see them_ \- gave an exclusive, fabricated interview about my life. She made it seem like a walk in the park! She glossed over  _everything_. She even said that the reason I turned to Physics was because I sucked at acting! I don't suck at acting- I have legit stage fright. Did my failed attempt at Lady Macbeth teach her  _nothing_?"

Sara looked appalled. "No way," she said, "she  _really_  did that?"

Fae narrowed her eyes. "Would I lie to you?"

"No! But she did ask me if I could say a few words about you…." Her voice trailed off as she noticed Fae's face literally ashened.

Her friend was controlling her temper. And that was bad.

"I don't  _believe_  it," she said through gritted teeth. "The nerve of her! Why I-"

"Don't lose your temper!" Sara exclaimed. "I love my kitchen too much!"

Fae took a deep breath. "I don't know how long I can go on before murdering her," she admitted, "And I've yet to meet her."

"You haven't seen to her?"

"No, just on the phone."

"What did she say?"

"It's for my own good," Fae said, "like, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"That's she's your mother and loves you…?" Sara offered and Fae rolled her eyes.

"Yeah right."

"What else did she say?"

"She's got things to talk to me about."

"Fae," Sara said more seriously, "I think she wan-"

The doorbell rang, interrupting her.

"Huh?" Sara wasn't expecting anyone and that just confused her.

"I'll be a moment," she said and went to the door.

It was Ben.

"What're you doing here?" she asked.

"Is Fae here?" he questioned her.

"I asked first!"

"I need to speak to Fae," he said before walking past her into the house.

Sara glared at him. "Rude!" But Ben didn't seem to hear her. He made his way into the living room and then the kitchen. To her surprise, Fae was nowhere to be seen.

"I thought she stayed at your house when she was visiting," Ben said.

"Eh, well she usually is," Sara said. If Fae didn't want to see Ben then she would allow her to do that. "I don't where she is right now."

Ben sighed. "Can you please tell her to call me once she comes by?" he asked before leaving.

Sara frowned. Fae entered in the kitchen from the back door almost immediately.

"Is he gone yet?" she asked her friend.

That just made her frown even more.


	25. Drunk Conversations

Sara eyed Fae. "Is there something you need to tell me?" she asked her dear friend who shrugged.

"I'm not speaking to him," she said, "I've got enough on my plate as it is."

Sara raised a brow.

"Mom. Press. Asshole siblings who allow our mother to control them," Fae elaborated.

"Oh c'mon Fae," Sara reasoned, "you've got to be kidding me. It's not like that."

"Like what?" she snapped. "She fucking  _lied_  to a magazine about me just so I could fit in the picturesque perception of our lives that she's painted in front of the public. She doesn't give a fuck about the real world consequences her decisions have had on the family. I'm fucked up, Desi won't speak two words to me because of some bullshit lie she's been telling her about some talk I don't even remember having with her, Pam's a materialistic bitch, George- well, we all know the real deal with him and Allison now don't we? She's the reason Eddie ran away and she still wants everyone to think we have a perfect life because of some god complex that she's got. She screwed all of us over and she still thinks she hasn't done anything wrong. That's so fucking messed up and I won't allow myself to be at her mercy anymore. I'm done being her plaything. I've been done for a long time now and she can't just bring me back into the game because Benedict seems to like me. That's just wrong! I won't have any of it. My life's great. I don't want her to interfere with it."

By the end of her rant, Fae's face had gotten completely ashened. She was breathing very heavily. Sara saw the signs and knew better than to argue with Fae right now.

So instead, all she said was, "Okay…"

Fae looked heavenwards and let out an exasperated sigh. "I need to speak to my mother," she said once more before grabbing and taking a bite of one of the many, many cookies that lay on the kitchen counter.

_"NO!"_  Sara wailed, "That's for Gemma's bake sale."

Fae shrugged. "Making one more won't kill ya," she stated, leaving the kitchen.

Sara sighed. She hated seeing Fae like this. This was why she didn't encourage her to visit London at all. The city seemed to rub off on her the wrong way; there was simply too much bad blood here. So even though she knew she'd regret, she spoke up, "Where you going?"

Fae didn't look back as she said, "I need a drink."

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

"Another one," she told the bartender before donning an entire pint of beer in one gulp. The bartender raised a brow but obeyed anyway. Fae gave him a nod in appreciation before drinking her sixth round of beer. Her throat burned as she drank it but Fae ignored it. She pushed the glass away and rested her head on the counter. Her vision was blurry, she felt dizzy but everything felt fuzzy. She was slightly annoyed at her tolerance. It had gotten worse. There was a time when it would take more than twelve of these to make her slightly tipsy but then she'd "quit". Of course, by quit she meant not binge drinking in Sheffield at all because she had to get home. London, however, was a different story. Fae only ever drank like the alcoholic her mother taunted her of being in London.  _Why?_  Because this was the city that started it all. Fae  _ **hated**  _London. Too much shit had gone down here.

And drinking was the only way to cope with it. So in spite of herself, she finished her drink and ordered another one. Even the bartender seemed reluctant but he did as he was told anyway.

"Thankss man," she said to him, holding her drink up in appreciation before drinking it.

Fae closed her eyes, humming to herself. She felt really, really good. Her senses dulled and suddenly, London didn't seem all that bad. Sure, it was still a shitty place to live- let alone raise kids and work- but it wasn't  _that_  bad. So what if she had had a shitty time here?

And  _yes_ , she'd done it.

She was officially wasted.

She looked around the pub she was in, noticing how there weren't much people around but then it  _was_  one o'clock in the afternoon and normal people had things to do at this time.

Fae smiled widely.

_Normal people._

She was normal in Sheffield.

If only she hadn't gotten that equation right.

It was a strange thought, she had to admit it herself, but right now- she'd give anything to turn back time. She should've stopped and given  _whatever-his-name-was_ detention the moment she realized that it wasn't part of their homework. That way she would've been in her office right now working on her book and not in London ready to face off her Godzilla of a mother.

Actually, she should've never readjusted her flight to fit in Pam's bachelorette party. That way she-

"Fae."

She frowned. That sounded an awful lot like…

She turned around to see who it was.

_…Benedict._

Benedict Cumberbatch.

Ben.

Asshole with a fake wife. And a child.

_Why was no one ever mentioning his kid?_

He  _had_  a kid,  _didn't he?_

Fae frowned.

"Why does no one talk about your son?" she asked him.

Ben seemed dumbfounded.  _"What?"_

"Yeah," she went on, "it's always: Ben Cucumber's cheating on his wife. Why does no one talk about Kitty? He's the real victim here."

"You're drunk."

Fae shook her head a little too quickly and slipped out of her seat. Ben caught her. She didn't notice that.

"Of course not, you silly goose," she informed him, poking his cheek, "I'm wasted. Done. _Kaboom."_

"Why?"

"Because I  **hate**  this  _citttyy_ ," she went on. Then, "Oh god my head hurts!"

"Then why'd you do it?" Ben asked her.

"Because…. That's why," she replied chirpily.

Benedict looked at her for a long while before saying, "I've been looking for you, you know."

Again she nodded a little too enthusiastically.  _"I knooooww,"_  she said, "I didn't want to see you- OOPS." She covered her mouth with both her hands. That made him laugh.

"Alright then," he chuckled, "do you want me to leave?"

Fae shook her head in negative. "No, you're nice," she said.


	26. Back to Sara's

Benedict wrapped his arm around Fae, directing her away from the pub. Not that she needed much guidance; Fae seemed to be perfectly aware of her senses. She knew that she had to leave the pub- the problem was that she wasn't willing to get into his car because- to quote her- she would "end up doing something stupid" with him again. Ben had to admit- that bit kind of hurt. He'd always thought that she- after her initial horror of him cheating on Sophie- had accepted things. Was it the pressure from the press? He didn't know. Fae had told him that she hated media frenzy. Benedict felt a tad bit guilty about the way things had gotten out.

He hadn't wanted things to come out like that.

He'd wanted to  _properly_  end it with Sophie before going public with Fae. It had all escalated rather quickly and crudely for his liking. At present, Sophie refused to speak to him and his manager was giving him hell. The only people not saying anything to him was Karon and Jacob. But that was partly due to the fact that, well, they were his publicists. Well, Jacob was the head of Marvel PR but that wasn't the point. They were only helping him because it was their job to. Even Martin had stopped talking to him.

Though that was due to other factors as well.

Not for the first time did he wonder if the PR thing was a good idea after all.

"Here we are," he said to Fae, opening his car door for her.

Fae was brooding. She looked annoyed and mumbled a very dramatic "Thanks" ("Fhenks"- as it came out) before sitting and closing the door behind her.

Benedict quickly jogged to his side and seated himself. He wore his seatbelt and turned to Fae to see that she hadn't done so.

"What?" she asked him.

"Seatbelts," he pointed out and she crossed her arms, shaking her head in denial.

"Nope."

"Fae..."

"Nooo."

Benedict chuckled to himself. This was a new side of Fae he hadn't seen before. He undid his own seatbelt and then did hers. She protested but in the complied and let him. Putting his own seat belts on once more, he drove her to Sara's.

The journey to Sara's house was quick. He had been so fixated on the road- brought about partly by his own chain of thoughts and partly because, well, traffic- that he didn't notice that his companion was oddly quiet.

Fae wasn't usually one for words but she tend to be doing  _something_  to make her presence known. Like tapping on the dashboard. So when they finally arrived at Sara's and Ben discovered that she was asleep, he really shouldn't have been surprised. But, he was. Quickly got out of the car and tried to wake her up but Fae was deeply asleep.

Ben sighed and rang Sara's bell. Thankfully, she was the open.

"Ben- oh, hey," she seemed surprised, "Fae... Fae isn't here."

He frowned for a moment before it occurred to him that she'd probably told Sara to tell him that. Ben wasn't sure how he felt about that either.

"She's in the car with me," he stated.

Sara's eyes grew comically wide. "Whaaat?"

"Yeah, she was at a bar and... she's asleep."

"Oh." And then, "OH."

Ben smiled at that. "Yeah."

"Do you need any help or..."

"Just show me the way and I'll carry her."

"Are you sure? I could help," Sara volunteered.

"I can manage it," he insisted walking over to his car to Fae's side, "just show me the way."

Sara nodded and waited for Ben to bring Fae into her house. He even carried her up the stairs (which was no joke since there were a lot of stairs) and joked about Fae being really light- something which Sara could relate to.

"Yeah, medical deformity," she told him, " she likes to call it. Fae's been trying to gain forever. Something about BMI and what not. I didn't really get it."

Ben smiled at that. "Typical Fae."

She agreed, "Yeah. I swear sometimes Fae just goes off on a tangent without realizing it. It's probably bad but I like to encourage her."

Ben said nothing to that and hummed in agreement.

They reached the guest room which was essentially Fae's room at this point.

"Does she stay here often?" he asked her as Sara opened the door for them.

"Yup," she told him, "whenever she's in London."

"She doesn't stay with her family?"

Sara looked uncomfortable. "No... it's not my story to tell."

Ben furrowed his brows as he laid her on her bed but didn't say anything. He ran his hand through her hair lovingly, settling down beside her.

"You can come down if you want," Sara offered, "I'll fix you up with a snack or something."

He shook his head, politely declining. "I think I'll stay here a while," he said.

Sara nodded and walked out. Not before re-entering the room and saying, "I really hope you know what you're doing Ben."

And even though he wasn't the best person to offer any insurance to her, considering how everything was going with him lately, Benedict felt compelled to assure Sara that he knew just that.

It was a thinly veiled lie and both he and Sara knew it.

"Just don't hurt my friend," she told him before leaving them alone.


End file.
